Emergency medical services (EMS) communications: Conservation of time

Although adequate means for emergency communications are available, their utilization in daily emergencies and during medical disasters is amazingly inefficient. This phase of emergency health services is undergoing rapid expansion and improvement. These changes will narrow the time gap between the onset of an acute illness or injury and the implementation of techniques of monitoring and skilled management and care. The communications problems which have caused the medical field to lag far behind other emergency services can mostly be solved by existing knowledge and techniques. No longer should communications systems be designed for the exclusive use of one service or agency. First the emergency medical services (EMS) system must precede the communications subsystem. Only after the community has clearly defined its emergency medical needs and has designed a system to meet those needs should it look for the communication equipment that will serve to tie together the various elements of the system. This article defines the functions of communication, identifies communications systems requirements, and recommends means of implementing EMS communication networks. When these recommendations and plans are put into effect the emergency medical communications system will be the most widely utilized, coordinated, and sophisticated emergency communications systems within the area it serves.