Name: Guillaume Pelletier
Occupation: Clinical & Teaching Director
Years of dispatch/emergency service experience: 18 years
Agency Name: Centre de communication santé Laurentides + Lanaudière
Location/Country: Blainville, Quebec, Canada
Service Area: 32,856 km
Population: 1,200,000
1. How long have you been working with the Advanced Medical Priority Dispatch System and ProQA?
I'm a paramedic by trade. Following a serious knee injury, I had to reorient my career and started working with the Advanced Medical Priority Dispatch System™ (AMPDS™) in 2009 as an Emergency Medical Dispatcher. Like many paramedics at the time, I had a poor impression of health communication centers and a poor understanding of how they worked. I was impressed by the work performed in a health communication center and developed a passion for the job. So, I continued my efforts to become a reviewer, instructor, and went on to complete a master's degree in management, which brings me to my current role.
2. What do you like most about ProQA?
What I like most about ProQA® is its ease of use. It's always impressive when a new Emergency Medical Dispatcher starts out. Often, when they're hired, they have very little knowledge of our field. After a few weeks of classroom training and a certain number of days with a training supervisor, with the support of the team, the new Emergency Medical Dispatcher is already ready to tackle a multitude of situations he or she has probably never heard of before.
ProQA is a great help in using the AMPDS. We see it in training. As soon as we finish AMPDS training with the cardset, I have fun asking new recruits to try using the ProQA software in a simulation without further explanation. The general reaction is "Finally!!!! It's so much easier with ProQA than the cardset!"
3. Can you think of a specific example when ProQA helped you? Tell us about an experience, a memory, or an anecdote.
It's often when the situation is most tense that it's reassuring to have ProQA with us. I remember one day when we were understaffed and had a high call volume. I had just started as an Emergency Medical Dispatcher. I was on the line almost 100% of my shift. From memory, I took 70 calls that day. At one point, I was worried about making mistakes and missing something. I took a deep breath and concentrated on each call, using my tools well—ProQA was definitely a lifesaver that day. Without it, I would have gone home with doubts about my assessments.
4. What do non-users need to know about the AMPDS and/or ProQA?
It's a fantastic tool, but you have to learn to work with it, not against it. Accepting to work with Protocol doesn't necessarily come naturally to some people. But when we understand that it's our ally, that we have much more latitude than we think, it becomes an extraordinary safeguard, ensuring that we don't forget anything and allowing us to concentrate on the caller and customer service.
5. Do you have any recommendations for other users?
My biggest recommendation is this: When you receive an emergency call from someone who is calling for a loved one, remember you don't just have a patient. You also have a caller! Creating a good bond with your caller is crucial to what happens next. It's easy to forget that before calling 911, the caller tried to find a solution on his or her own and contacted us as a last resort. This situation, which may seem trivial at times, is probably a stressful event for this person.
I like to say that our caller is at least as important a resource as the AMPDS for our intervention, and therefore for the patient. Without our caller, nothing is possible. The assessment will be difficult, the prioritization of the call may be wrong, and the care given to the patient will probably be deficient. Taking care of our caller means taking care of our patient. I'd like to build a slogan around this statement.
What does it actually mean? There's no magic or prefabricated formula for it. You simply must put yourself in the caller's shoes. You have to understand what he's going through to find the right reflexes to reassure him and show him that he's not alone—we're there to guide him. I believe you have to work with them, using benevolent leadership, to help them get through this difficult time. Caring for the caller is caring for the patient.
