When your organization is in the business of saving lives, time is of the essence. You must use a customizable yet dependable computer-aided emergency dispatch system to coordinate with the rest of your team members to improve response time and promote clear and concise communication between all parties involved.
If you’re looking for Computer aided dispatch that’s specifically designed to meet the needs of your EMS organization and improve the services you provide your clients, there are a few things you can do to speed up and simplify the selection process. One of these is making a list of all the features you want your ideal solution to have. What features should dispatch software have in order to help your organization provide high-quality service during stressful and critical situations? Here are a few things to think about:
Mobile-Ready
Nowadays, almost everyone owns a smartphone, and your employees frequently access their daily schedules via their smartphones. When dealing with medical emergencies daily, it is not practical to rely solely on a computer or website to determine your following schedule or assignment. As a result, it makes sense for your dispatch system to include a mobile app that your team members can use immediately.
Once they have the app installed on their phones, your employees will no longer have to log in using a browser every time they want to see their updated tasks. They can also receive real-time notifications for urgent jobs. These features, in turn, will assist your organization in making the best use of technology while reducing the time it takes to provide services.
Visual Distribution
The act of organizing a dispatch can be time-consuming. Some systems will require you to manually enter the time, location, situation, type of vehicle, personnel, and other details necessary to carry out a proper response, which can take up valuable minutes.
Visual dispatching is a far more efficient alternative to this antiquated method. Visual dispatching allows you to click, drag, and drop a crew member’s information to a schedule grid, and your crew member will be aware of any current tasks or upcoming schedule changes. This method will help your dispatchers manage both scheduled and unscheduled assignments that come into your system. You’ll also have an easier time identifying and filling available slots because you can quickly see everyone’s schedule.
Access to Multiple Managers
Companies that focus on public health are frequently open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. EMS organizations must continually change their personnel schedules to ensure that there are enough staff members to respond to the needs of their clients. This is true for both EMS personnel on the ground and dispatchers who coordinate their efforts.
As a result, your online scheduling application should enable more than one person to work in an administrative capacity. To ensure security, the system should have multiple levels of access rights. While one person can be designated as the system’s primary administrator, others can be granted administrative privileges when the direct manager is away from their workstation. This way, your organization can continue to provide services even if your staffing schedule changes unexpectedly.
UHU Percentage Active
Your dispatch system effectively tracks the amount of time your team members are on the job. This gives it a unique opportunity to report on Unit Hour Utilization (UHU). Most EMS organizations pay close attention to this crucial metric regarding profitability.
EMS organizations can use this metric to determine whether their ambulances are being used effectively and whether their crew members are being put to work. Some EMS organizations set a minimum UHU goal to maintain or increase profits. Aside from profitability, these metric assists dispatchers in effectively allocating resources to avoid overburdened crew members. Crew members can thus provide better care and service even in stressful and critical situations.
Other Modules Integration
Finally, your Ambulance dispatch software should be able to integrate with other modules easily. When each module is on its island, it takes a lot of IT resources and API calls to get all of the data in one place. When data integration errors occur, headaches and frustration ensue. Your staff will have to either fix the problems or key in the data, which is time-consuming and inefficient.
At the very least, your computer-aided dispatch system should be integrated with ePCR and billing. If this is the case, you can significantly improve cash flow because your billers can bill the dispatch as soon as it is completed. Furthermore, when your dispatch system is integrated with employee scheduling, you can avoid assigning someone who is on PTO to a dispatch. These are just a few of the advantages of using an all-in-one EMS solution.
Conclusion
Your EMS organization should be supported by a computer-aided dispatch system designed to meet today’s growing demands to provide people with quick, efficient, and life-saving services. To begin, sit down with your team members and make a list of the necessary and desirable features and functionalities that you want to see in your next dispatch system. Then, use this list as a guide when researching your options or to generate questions when looking for software providers. This allows you to quickly narrow down the vendors who offer concrete solutions to the dispatch system issues you are currently experiencing.
