DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN AUTOMATED AMBULANCE DISPATCH SYSTEM
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Introduction
The
emergency ambulance dispatch system or computer aided dispatch system (CAD) is
a web based application that efficiency receives a phone call from all
services, records the details of an emergency including location, find the next
available ambulance and dispatches the ambulance as fast as possible with some
minute.
As
technology and particularly computer technology evolved, the dispatching of EMS
resources took on an entirely new dimension and required completely new skill
sets. The process of dispatching was supported by computers and moved in many
locates to a paperless system that require above average computer skills.
System
not only permitted in dispatcher to record the call information, but also
automated the call triage process, allowing system to become algorithm-based
decision support tools.
The
computer aided dispatcher system will constantly monitor the location and
status of response resources, making response resource assignment
recommendations to human dispatchers, allowing human dispatchers to watch the
physical movement of their resources across a computerized map.
Ambulance
dispatchers required little in the way of qualifications, apart from good
telephone manners and knowledge of a local geography.
1.1 Theoretical Background
Today,
it is believed that the application of computer technology in any activity
would go along way in making that activity much easier. This system is designed
to locate the available ambulance near the incident location and dispatch them
as per requirement, to the researcher. To this end, the researcher see the
above statement as a theory until proven otherwise by ambulance dispatch
system. It is also understood that the benefit of using computer supersede that
of the manual method. The design and implementation of the new system will
prove beyond doubt by the researcher.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The
sudden increase in the number of emergency reported by the federal road safety
has transcended the manipulation of the existing system used by the ambulance dispatcher
and this prompted a lot of problem which encompass the delay of dispatching
ambulance it was very complicated to observed or track the location of any
dispatch ambulance. Since there was no tracking facility in the manual method.
It was very difficult to keep record of ambulance available and ambulance on
duty. All these and more are encountered due to the debilitation of the
prevailing system used.
1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study
The
aim of this research is to build a dispatch system that will help to speedup
the rate of dispatching ambulance in order to carter for an emergency in the
society. The objectives of the system include:
(i) To
provide fastest ambulance services to the victims of any emergency incidents.
(ii) To
decrease the amount of paper work must be file.
(iii) To
help the company ensure that provide an adequate amount of ambulance for each
of the service.
(iv) To
enable management track the status of each ambulance and the ambulance
activity.
1.4 Significance of the Study
This research
work will have the following significance.
(i) Introduce
a software that will speed-up the rate of dispatching ambulance.
(II) Enable
the company to track the status of each ambulance.
1.5 Scope of the Study
The
research project focuses on ambulance dispatch system using federal road
safety, Uyo.
1.6 Organization of the Study
The research project
has been arranged in the following order. Chapter one contains the
introduction, theoretical background, statement of problem, scope of the study and
definition of terms. Chapter two focused on the relevant literature review on the subject matter. Chapter three is
concerned with the system design, which emphasis on system design and flow
chart. It also expands the development of the new information. Chapter four is
the system implementation which gives the direction of system and analysis of
modules. Chapter five summarizes, show the limitation of the study, conclude
the research work and offer some useful recommendation.
1.7 Definition of Terms
CAD
(Computer Aided Dispatch): This is the name given to the
software system under consideration.
Caller:
Is
the person who calls the 911 service and asks for an ambulance.
LTS
(Location Tracking System): Is
the independent software component that accepts caller phone number from (CAD)
and provides location details to CAD. This is a mapping system.
Dispatcher: Is the person who receives the phone call from
operator, enter incident information into CAD system, and processes the
necessary details for dispatching the ambulance.
Operator: This is the person who
attends the phone call at 911 services.