Fabrice Dami, Medical Director, Lausanne emergency dispatch, Switzerland - Relocating part of the dispatch centre to another country
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EENA 2021: Remote call-taking (2/3)
1. 12 octobre 2021 1
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Fabrice Dami, MD, MBA
Medical Director
Lausanne medical dispatch, Switzerland
Attending physician, Emergency department, Lausanne University Hospital
Fabrice.dami@chuv.ch
Remote dispatch from another country:
a Case Study
2. 12 octobre 2021 2
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No conflict of interest
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Geographical Context (3/3) Lausanne &
Neighbouring France
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Swiss Economical Context
- Higher income
- Higher costs (rent, insurances, all goods)
- Many cross-border workers (Swiss, French,
other nationals)
- Increased buying power
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Lausanne medical dispatch
30 dispatchers
Half of them living in neighbouring France,
across the Geneva lake
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Challenge / Risk
First wave COVID arrives: France and
Switzerland may close their borders
Critical Staff cannot travel to work
Lausanne medical dispatch unable to pursue
its mission
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Solutions Considered
Keep (volunteering) dispatchers in
Switzerland (hotel rooms): for how long?
Train spare paramedics (eg. not being able
to work on the field anymore due to medical
conditions) into dispatchers
Set up remote working stations
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Solutions Implemented
2 hotel rooms were booked for a month
3 paramedics were trained for call taking
Remote working stations were set to face
border closure and/or quarantine of
asymptomatic dispatchers
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Remote working stations
CAD and phone systems were tested in
private homes.in France! (in the
operational directors basement!)
Political issue: State Health authorities were
not informed
Technical issue: communication between
dispatch in Lausanne and remote stations?
Radio? Dispatch of incoming calls between
the main dispatch and remote stations?
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Remote working stations: what worked, what did not
Remote: treated all back office and incoming calls from
professionnals (automatic deviation from phone server).
Remote: no treatment of emergency calls
Remote: no recording of calls available (working on
mobiles), no radio (Polycom)
Implementation of a chat between main dispatch and
remote places (Slack)
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Conclusion
We were ready but did not have to use any of all the backup
solutions set in place (remote, hotel rooms, new trained
dispatchers)
This is prehospital care: be creative as usual
During crisis the objective is to pursue the mission at any cost
Risks have to be taken (no information on State authorities)
Need to increase dispatchers salary to be able to hire Swiss
resident only