28th March 2017
(L-R) Pam Stewart (IAED Chair of Board of Certification), Gavin Flynn, Kelly McKee, Emma Campbell, Louise Delaney, Matt Graham, Jerry Overton (IAED President of Academies of Emergency Dispatch)
NIAS nominated five Emergency Medical Dispatchers for awards at the recent Ireland Navigator Conference, hosted by the International Academy of Emergency Medical Dispatch (IAEMD) in Dublin.
The category for which our EMDS were nominated related to individual 999 calls during which they had remained compliant to the Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) and had overseen a successful or beneficial patient outcome.
All five were shortlisted, but as in all these things there is only one winner. NIAS is delighted that the overall winner was NIAS EMD Kelly McKee. Kelly has been with us for around 2 years and has proven herself to be entirely adept at the complex and often emotional challenge of remaining compliant to a protocol while delivering telephone care and assessment – and all this while not coming across as simply reading a script. The award she picked up was Ireland Dispatcher of the Year 2017.
The 999 call Kelly handled was a 2nd Party caller whose partner was in labour with a birth imminent. The baby was delivered prior to the arrival of an ambulance crew and Kelly remained compliant delivering nearly 50 Post Dispatch Instructions (PDIs) / Pre-Arrival Instructions (PAIs). To complete this call Kelly had to negotiate the appropriate PAI panels during circumstances which were changing by the second. To ensure a successful outcome Kelly had to continually reassure and encourage the caller while remaining calm, coherent and composed. The final section of the audit report relating to this call notes that Kelly; displayed service attitude, used correct volume and tone, displayed compassion, avoided gaps, explained actions, provided reassurance and created expectations.
NIAS recently introduced an internal awards scheme for our EMDs to promote excellence. Certificates and award badges are presented for:
- Number of Customer Service compliant Calls
- Number of calls with High or total Compliance
- Baby Born
- Life saved – Cardiac
- Life saved – non Cardiac
The Trust is aware that the world of our call-taking EMD colleagues is little understood and to be honest, often a little undervalued. They provide online advice in highly charged situations to callers who have little or no experience in dealing with the situation in which they find themselves. Their calmness and helpful attitude to callers can often improve a difficult situation prior to the arrival of Paramedics. We are delighted that Kelly won the award and are confident that we will return next year to pick up even more awards.
Our other nominees for the award were; Gavin Flynn, Louise Delaney, Emma Campbell and Matt Graham. Congratulations to them on their nominations.
(L-R) Gavin Flynn, Kelly McKee, Emma Campbell, Louise Delaney, Matt Graham