Prepared by: Beatrice Powell April 2012 Modified by: Sue Dawson September 2012

 Fire Involvement  Goals of EMS-TIF project  EMS-TIF & CADFusion interface- how it works  Preparation for EMS-TIF implementation ◦ System preparation ◦ Testing ◦ Training ◦ Implementation / Go Live  Considerations

 Fire Services Advisory Group has members from Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office, Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs, Ontario Professional Fire Fire Association of Ontario and Fire Fighters Association of Ontario.  OAFC has lobbied for simultaneous notification / been part of project for some time  Fire participation was voluntary. Site selection principles and approved by Fire Services Advisory Group.

 Shorten call handling time for both Ambulance & Fire  Share better information, faster  End result> faster overall emergency response to the public.

 Telus circuit installed at HQ ◦ Allows secure communication between Ambulance / Ministry of Health / Fire ◦ Will require IT and CAD Vendor involvement

 Review tiered response agreements for all Fire Departments dispatched for, to ensure they align with DPCI codes in use by Ambulance ◦ Map DPCI codes / tiered agreements to CriSys incident types. ◦ May need to change or create new incident types

Review data sharing documents provided by Ministry of Health > Data Mapping  MOH provides list of items they will send, either in initial data burst or as updates  Address information (incl. coordinates), location information, hazards, cautions, incident type, updates from scene, access codes, comments, etc.  Fire identifies ‘where’ in Fire CAD these items should go.  MOH provides ‘wish list’ of data items they would like from Fire  Call acknowledgement, whether Fire is responding, time Fire is on scene, updates from scene, Fire ETA, hazards, etc.  Fire identifies which elements they can provide and from where

Most data shared with Ambulance is based on: ◦ Unit status- Fire Dispatched & On Scene ◦ Benchmarks  Review all benchmarks and organize so they are easy to use. All medical benchmarks are in one menu. ◦ Site details & Site hazards  Identified types automatically shared when call from ambulance is acknowledged  Identify types to share- for all departments dispatched for…everyone needs a full understanding of what data is being shared  Clean up content!

 Once interface configuration is complete, testing can begin.  Testing occurs, end to end, with Ministry of Health / CACC, over conference calls.  Numerous test cycles involving test scenarios at both ends.  Define test scenarios ◦ Typical medical call handling scenarios ◦ Known problematic situations ◦ Fire can identify scenarios. Kitchener identified 28 ◦ Review scenarios with CACC- they had good input!  Create test cases based on scenarios ◦ Define inputs / outputs ◦ Some scripting may be helpful to make sure testing captures all situations  Create a test log where you can document all issues and their follow up actions.

 Standard medical call  Standard medical call with address & other updates  Medical call to no-match address  Medical call to highway location  Linking a medical call to an existing Fire incident, e.g. an MVC that Fire receives from Police before Ambulance  Etc.

 Numerous test cycles, end to end with Ministry of Health  Parallel production sessions- Simulation/shadowing of actual medical calls at both Fire & Ambulance  “Day in the life” sessions- scripted ‘typical’ day, performed end to end with staff from Fire & Ambulance

 Pre-read / self directed training materials for both Communications & Suppression.  Creation of videos showing a full range of medical call handling scenarios- based on test scenarios.  One-on-one training using videos, approximately one hour with opportunity for questions.  Some opportunity to participate in coordinated training with Ambulance staff.  Opportunities to ‘practice’ in Parallel Production Environment, ie. Shadowing actual calls at both ends.

 CriSys will install to our Live system and turn on the listener to receive calls from CACC.  Support plan for EMS-TIF connection issues to be in place.  Contract dispatch customers and Kitchener Suppression crews have received information packages regarding what to expect when EMS-TIF is live.  All Communications staff are now trained.  Once Live, assessment of call handling & overall emergency response time savings to be performed.

 Address Data from Ambulance ◦ Not currently in 911 PERS format ◦ May get addresses that do not match, address ranges, etc. ◦ May get coordinates only, but always with a description of location. E.g. location in a park ◦ Will always get coordinates which locate the call correctly & enable you to start a response without needing a matched address.

 Trip Ticket Content ◦ All notes, including those from Ambulance, which are on the call prior to dispatch, will appear on the trip ticket. There may be an increase in volume of information received. ◦ No patient name is ever included, but condition and location are. This is sensitive and private information. ◦ Consider policies and procedures around secure trip ticket disposal. ◦ May need to accommodate extra information on trip tickets, i.e. decrease font size to make room on sheet.

 Content of data shared with Ambulance ◦ Consider policies around what is entered into CAD. ◦ If Site Details and Site Hazards are being shared, they should be maintained properly and have some input guidelines around them. ◦ Consider expectation of confidentiality.  Time Sync’ing ◦ Fire and Ambulance CAD times are not always in sync. ◦ Consider pursuing solution to address this issue. ◦ Has impact on statistics when mixing times from two systems.

 Overall, an interesting and valuable experience which provided opportunities to streamline processes and improve information flow and content, in addition to achieving call handling time savings.  Implementation time has been significant, but as early adopters, this was anticipated. Any future adopters would not likely have to commit as much time.  Opportunity to significantly improve emergency response times and literally save more lives – this is worth the effort invested. This is a significant enhancement to customer service and community safety.