Timeless

Before you read any further, STOP, take a moment, and think about how communication centers around the world have changed over the last 40 years, going from a copper-wired landline phone system with a radio, pen, and paper with overhead fluorescent lighting to advanced computer systems and software, wireless headsets, and centers designed with noise reduction and soothing lighting systems.

But a couple of things have remained the same. First, the people who do the job every day. It takes a special kind of person to sit in the “chair.” Second, the basic structure and function of the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch^® (IAED^™) protocols. When you compare what the protocol looked like 45 years ago to what it looks like today, you will notice many changes. However, some things have not changed. The structure and protocol flow remain unchanged: Case Entry followed by Key Questions, Determinant Response Coding, and then Dispatch Life Support is still the flow in most cases. This demonstrates how the IAED process has stood the test of time. Sure, there have been some changes in very specific situations where the protocol incorporates modification from this flow, but this only came after years of experience, research, and advancements in software technology.

I recently reviewed the Salt Lake EMS District’s Protocol No. 60 “Medical Dispatch” from March 1989 (this is a revision of the 1983 original document). Aside from a few minor edits, this policy/procedure could be approved and used today in nearly every MPDS^® agency. As I read through this document and our agency in Oklahoma contemplated using the Medical Protocol in 1989, it became crystal clear that Dr. Jeff Clawson hit a bull’s-eye from the very beginning in the development of Version 1 of the MPDS.

As the IAED continues to grow with every certification course, implementation, and protocol release, we must pause and look in the rearview mirror from time to time to see where we came from. After all, if it weren’t for that initial protocol structure and function that Dr. Clawson developed, none of us would be able to do what we do today: Help everyone and, if done right, occasionally save a life.