A priority dispatch system for emergency medical services.

A decision tree priority dispatch system for emergency medical services (EMS) was developed and implemented in Atlanta and Fulton County, Georgia. The dispatch system shortened the average response time from 14.2 minutes to 10.4 minutes for the 30% of patients deemed most urgent (P less than or equal to .05); resulted in a significant increase in the use of advanced life support units for this group (P less than or equal to .02); decreased the number of calls that required a backup ambulance service; and significantly increased conformity to national EMS response time standards for critically ill and injured patients (P less than or equal to .0009). Due to dispatch error, 0.3% of calls were dispatched as least severe but subsequently were found to be most urgent.