Technology
Operations Centre Technology
The Ambulance Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system is currently used by over 90 emergency services worldwide covering ambulance, police and fire operations. CAD allows Ambulance to manage workload and allocate appropriate ambulances to scheduled and emergency calls.
Operations centre officers obtain all relevant information from both emergency and non-emergency callers and types this directly into the CAD system. Each incident is then assigned via CAD an ambulance identification number on the computer screen. Details of the call is then transmitted through radio and data networks to paramedics who read the details on the Mobile Data Terminal located in the front cabin of the ambulance.
Mobile Data Terminals (MDT)
Mobile Data Terminals provide the paramedics with relevant patient information entered into the CAD system by operations centre officers, via an easy to read display screen.
It also allows the paramedic to respond to each incident, via buttons, to indicate that they have received the case and are responding/at scene/departed scene, as well as sending/receiving messages from the operations centre.
The MDT system incorporates Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, allowing operations centre officers to locate a vehicles' position on a mapping screen. This provides paramedics with the ability to locate and dispatch the closest available resource to emergency incidents.
In addition to the data network, paramedicss also have a separate radio in all ambulance vehicles which operates on the Government Radio Network or the Ambulance Service Private Mobile Radio systems, used for the transmission of voice messages.
The Computer Aided Dispatch System allows Ambulance to manage the workload and allocate appropriate ambulances to scheduled and emergency calls. Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs) in all vehicles provide paramedics with relevant patient information and incorporate Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, allowing operations centre officers to locate the position of each vehicle on a mapping screen.