Predicting an Emergency??

[Richard B the EMT]

I wonder if this is a similar system to what the FDNY EMS Command used, and is using, to determine our "Cross Street Locations", where we sit between calls, in some instances facing a particular direction depending on the time of the day/evening/night.?

[BEorP]

If it is run correctly you will improve response times by 2-3 minutes.

Could you please cite something to back this up?

[CTXMEDIC]

Could you please cite something to back this up?

impossible, as it isnt true. the ONLY time this ever held true is if the call happened to be right on top of us which has zip to do with S&M. most of our posts were at major intersections and freeway on ramps. from our main station this MIGHT have cut a minute off our time if the call was accessible only by the freeway. ahhh yes, the good old days. we always wondered how the fire department was able to not have to play the game and their response times were fine. ssm is what happens when you outsource your soul to some jagoffs from detroit. what works there doesnt work in central texas.

[Just Plain Ruff]

You should not have to have all the trucks move at the same time. Just the ones that border the car that went out on the call. Move the two cars adjacent to the called car and have them move to a pre-set location.

It's silly to move every car around if one car in the south goes on a call. Why not just move the car to the north and the one to east or west.

[BEorP]

For anyone who thinks that this system is something magical, you may want to read this article by Dr. Bledsoe: http://www.bryanbledsoe.com/data/pdf/mags/Myth7.pdf

I actually emailed the company asking if they had any journal articles that they could cite that validate their software. Surprisingly the Chief Operating Officer of the North America division of the company replied and said that he would be happy to give me a call to discuss once he gets back from New Zealand.

[reaper]

Could you please cite something to back this up?

Common Sense? If you have ever worked a SSM system that works, this is not hard to see. It takes the average crew 1.5-2 minutes to get in the truck and go en route to a call. If you are already in the truck, you have just cut 2 minutes off your response times.

Not everyone can work SSM. But, if it is run correctly, it is a better service for a busy city. The same goes that not every city is set up to run SSM. This is where a lot of them fail. It depends on the demographics and geography of the city, as to whether it will work or not!

[paramedicmike]

Common Sense? If you have ever worked a SSM system that works, this is not hard to see. It takes the average crew 1.5-2 minutes to get in the truck and go en route to a call. If you are already in the truck, you have just cut 2 minutes off your response times.

Not everyone can work SSM. But, if it is run correctly, it is a better service for a busy city. The same goes that not every city is set up to run SSM. This is where a lot of them fail. It depends on the demographics and geography of the city, as to whether it will work or not!

I believe the "something to back this up" dealt more with studies that have shown or disproved it's effectiveness. Common sense is not a legitimate answer to the question.

So, do you have any studies that you can cite, completed independently of the company that pushes this style system, that supports it's use?

-be safe

[CTXMEDIC]

For anyone who thinks that this system is something magical, you may want to read this article by Dr. Bledsoe: http://www.bryanbledsoe.com/data/pdf/mags/Myth7.pdf

I actually emailed the company asking if they had any journal articles that they could cite that validate their software. Surprisingly the Chief Operating Officer of the North America division of the company replied and said that he would be happy to give me a call to discuss once he gets back from New Zealand.

thanks for that article. once again, Bledsoe is spot on with his assessment.

after this crap was implemented at my last service we saw huge turnovers, to include myself and my partner, vehicles broke down all over the county, personnel visitied employee health more frequently for back problems, ambulance involved MVC's went up (SOLO wrecks at that), our pay was cut but they added shift differentials cuz it looks good on paper to new applicants, our run reviews turned into b!tch sessions and on and on and on it goes. people were posting employment ads for other services at the time clock. our management just took the route of, "If we dont see the problem it doesnt exist".

BTW, if it takes you 1-2 minutes to saddle up, you better be on the 5th floor of a hospital. i could be in the dayroom when the tones drop and take no more than 15 seconds to be sitting in the truck, in 30 i was out the gate. and this was WALKING.

[Niftymedi911]

We do not use SSM and in fact, our Union contract forbids SSM.

We have a more hybrid approach to keeping over 650,000 full-time residents and 3 million visitors each year covered. We don't just cover one city, we cover all of 4 cities and 50 different un-incorporated communities in our county. We have a mixture of 12 hr and 24 hr units totaling 37 trucks at any given time @ peak hours which is for us 1030-2230 The 24 hr trucks are what set-up all of the 8:59 response zones. When one zone as identified by the 8:59 sec rule,is out on a call it is deemed there's a hole, 1 truck is moved to that particular station to cover that zone. No street corner, no "post". All of our trucks have stations. The new software is being utilized so that the most appropriate unit and the most appropriate response time can be met to meet the needs of that 9-1-1 caller. That is why we didn't go with MRVLUS or any American type product. The SIREN software gives us the freedom to use what we want from the porgram. I know the softwares implications that can ultimately bring us back to SSM, but only time will tell. I just wanted to share this article with you all.

PS. We're finally getting induced hypothermia!!!! Our inservice ist next week!!

[BEorP]

I just had a chat with Chris Callsen of The Optima Corporation. We had a good conversation, but the bottom line is that he was unable to provide any evidence that their software improves response times. He did stress that as a former paramedic he understands that constant posts are frustrating and that is why he says that their software has the ability to do things like only send vehicles on a post if they will be there for at least x number of minutes or limit the number of posts each vehicle does in a shift.