Prepared by: Beatrice Powell
April 2012
Modified by: Sue Dawson
September 2012
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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
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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.
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Shorten call handling time for both
Ambulance & Fire
Share better information, faster
End result> faster overall emergency
response to the public.
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Telus circuit installed at HQ
◦ Allows secure communication between Ambulance /
Ministry of Health / Fire
◦ Will require IT and CAD Vendor involvement
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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
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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!
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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.
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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.
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Numerous test cycles, end to end
with Ministry of Health
Parallel production sessionsSimulation/shadowing of actual
medical calls at both Fire &
Ambulance
“Day in the life” sessionsscripted ‘typical’ day, performed
end to end with staff from Fire &
Ambulance
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.