Types of Training

The Cumberland County Emergency Communications Center personnel are required to be Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) certified.

The Cumberland County Emergency Communications Center has been accredited by the National Academy of Emergency Medical Dispatch.

One of the most significant official recognitions of the Academy is Communication Center Accreditation. Based on a total quality management process, dispatch and communications centers can attain "Center of Excellence" designation by demonstrating superior performance in training, quality assurance and improvement processes, medical oversight, and compliance to protocol. Compliance scores of over 90% and 95% respectively are required in seven areas of interrogation, pre-arrival instructing, and response coding. The Board of Accreditation oversees the evaluation applications of systems demonstrating accreditation eligibility. The Board also sets the EMD case evaluation process and scoring formula from which the core competency of EMD activities is determined.

We are one of 38 Centers that have received this Accreditation in the United States. By becoming an Accredited Center you can be assured that you will receive the best possible help that is available.

Twenty Points of Accreditation

The Accreditation Self-Assessment Study must formally document and describe:

1. All medical dispatch call-taking and dispatching work stations.
2. Current Advanced Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) licensing of each EMD position.
3. Current Academy certification of all EMD personnel.
4. How Academy certification will continue to be maintained.
5. Minutes from Medical Dispatch Review Committee (MDRC) and Steering Committee meetings.
6. EMD quality assurance and improvement methodology.
7. EMD Quality Assurance and Improvement database.
8. The number and percentages of randomly reviewed cases.
9. Consistent, cumulative, MPDS case review at or above the following percentages:
   95% - case entry protocol compliance
   95% - chief compliant selection accuracy
   90% - key question protocol compliance
   90% - post-dispatch instruction protocol compliance
   95% - pre-arrival instruction protocol compliance
   90% - subdeterminant code selection accuracy
   90% - cumulative overall score
10. Correct quality assurance and improvement scoring and practices through independent academy review of randomly assigned cases.
11. How EMS field personnel were oriented to the proper use of the MPDS with Pocket User Guides and through inservice or video orientation.
12. Use of field responder Medical Dispatch Feedback Reports.
13. Current Continuing Dispatcher Education (CDE) program functions.
14. How police and law enforcement received S.E.N.D. (Medical Miranda) pocket protocols and related in-service or video orientation.
15. Correct local configuration of all MPDS response assignments.
16. Field implementation of all MPDS response assignments.
17. How MPDS response assignments will be monitored and maintained.
18. Specific medical director oversight and controls.
19. Sharing of non-confidential data with the academy for review.
20. Support the academy's code of ethics and practice standards.