# What is you standard out of chute time?



## abckidsmom (Mar 11, 2012)

*What is your standard out of chute time?*

Does your agency track out of chute times?  Is there a goal in mind?

I struggle with this, having worked for too long in a SSM system where we were required to dispatch calls within 30 seconds of address verification, and then the crews had 30 seconds to mark en route upon dispatch.  Sure, that's a high standard, but here in my rural fire-based system the queue times and out of chute times are killing me.  

It is nothing for the comm center to hold a call for 2-3 minutes after address verification (we get a text whenever they code a call, so we know when it's coming, and then they have to dispatch it).  Crews take another 2-3 minutes sometimes getting to the truck, especially at night.

Do you guys have a standard here?  

It seems to me that it doesn't matter how quickly we get a 12 lead on a suspected STEMI if we are wasting time getting en route.  Isn't this an easy way to improve the efficiency of the system?


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## tnoye1337 (Mar 11, 2012)

Pssh. Me and my crew last night got to a call 20 seconds before we were even dispatched. It was a mutual aid and we knew it was going to us.


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## Steveb (Mar 11, 2012)

Well where I live medic are placed at stations and stratigic points in the city.there is also PRU's paramedics in cars that look like cop cars but say medic and have the same amount of gear minus stretcher and backboards ill post a pic tommorow.
When you call 911 where I live your address is found via GPS and a team is dispateced within 50 seconds.The team recives a call code via the radio and types it into the laptop to get all the info on the call.


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## Handsome Robb (Mar 11, 2012)

Any Priority 1 call we are required by our county contract to have marked on scene (verified by GPS) within 8 minutes and 29 seconds from the time our call-taker answers the 911 call. Priority 2 is 10:29 from the time the call is answered. 

Our standard from the time the call is answered to the time we are en route is <1 minute.

Every "late call" is reviewed by management. They listen to the call taker recording, listen to the traffic between dispatch and the responding crew from the time the call is dispatched to the time they mark on scene, and review the routing the crew used.


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## MedicBrew (Mar 11, 2012)

NVRob said:


> Any Priority 1 call we are required by our county contract to have marked on scene (verified by GPS) within 8 minutes and 29 seconds from the time our call-taker answers the 911 call. Priority 2 is 10:29 from the time the call is answered.
> 
> Our standard from the time the call is answered to the time we are en route is <1 minute.
> 
> Every "late call" is reviewed by management. They listen to the call taker recording, listen to the traffic between dispatch and the responding crew from the time the call is dispatched to the time they mark on scene, and review the routing the crew used.



Similar here with the exception of the 8:29 sec response time, that’s more than likely going to be dictated by local requirements or contracts.

If we have an extended out of chute time, then an IR must be generated by the lead medic. After 3-4 of those, you seem to find a way to get underway within the time requirements. 

We also have Trauma scene time and turnaround time constraints that are monitored monthly.


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## WolfmanHarris (Mar 11, 2012)

Standard is to book on the air with dispatch within two minutes of the station tones going off. Dispatch notified the District Superintendent of chute times longer than that. The Superintendent won't necessarily act on it, but they'll watch for trends of particularly long chute times. If I could count on actually coming back to my own station after a call I could cut my chute times quite a bit by not having to grab all my personal belongings and putting them in the truck too.


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## medicdan (Mar 12, 2012)

I think my company policy is 90 second chute time from notification of crew to en route, but that's rarely enforced by the letter, but monitored by intangible sense of the dispatchers. One of our crew rooms is deep in a building, so it may take 2 minutes alone to get out to the truck. 

At the volunteer service, chute time isn't measured independently, but as a component of total response time.


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## DrankTheKoolaid (Mar 12, 2012)

*re*

4 Minutes to go enroute from time of page, no matter the time of day.  Our crews work 72 hour shifts.  We dont have EMD's so 7/8 of our pages are unknown medicals and we just treat all call responses the same.


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## bw2529 (Mar 12, 2012)

I work for a rural volunteer service. Dispatchers average a few minutes between picking up the phone and paging it out (going through the EMD process). It is not uncommon for it to take 10 minutes for volunteers to get to the station and go en route from there. Our district is so large I've seen it take up to 30 minutes to arrive on scene (granted, that was actually a mutual aid call into a neighboring district). If it is a priority 1 or 2 job ALS is dispatched automatically and that is a whole different ballgame. They respond using fly cars from wherever they are, they don't need to respond to the station first. In some areas we also have first responders who will go directly to the scene (again, namely on priority 1 & 2 calls).


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## DesertMedic66 (Mar 12, 2012)

I believe we have 30 seconds from the time dispatch gives out the call to the time we are inroute. However our dispatching center is 60+ miles from the start of our response area so we are usually given a lot longer. 

I've personally never heard of a crew getting a write up for being too slow. Dispatch will try to contact a crew for around 2 minutes. After those 2 minutes they attempt to get the next closest unit to respond in place of the orginal unit.


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## DrParasite (Mar 12, 2012)

NVRob said:


> Any Priority 1 call we are required by our county contract to have marked on scene (verified by GPS) within 8 minutes and 29 seconds from the time our call-taker answers the 911 call. Priority 2 is 10:29 from the time the call is answered.


with all due respect, but that's crap.  it encourages speeding and reckless driving.  response time requirements (if you have them) should be based on distance, not priority level.  so if the ambulance has to travel 5 miles, they get 10 minutes  if they have to travel 4 miles, than 8 minutes.  

also, you are supposed to drive safely regardless of the nature.  and if you are trying to beat the clock on those super sick patients and you crash, than what?  you are even more behind the 8 ball


NVRob said:


> Our standard from the time the call is answered to the time we are en route is <1 minute.


we are as well, but there is no one making sure the moment you call enroute you are actually going to the job.  so you can call enroute from the couch, get dressed, pee, wash hands, look up the address, and still not actually leave the station.


NVRob said:


> Every "late call" is reviewed by management. They listen to the call taker recording, listen to the traffic between dispatch and the responding crew from the time the call is dispatched to the time they mark on scene, and review the routing the crew used.


all that encourages is calling on scene before you actually get there, speeding and driving unsafely, and other tricks to artificially or dangerously improve your response times.

my paid job requires our out the chute times to be less than a minute during the day, and less than 2 minutes at night.  volunteers have more time, especially if they are responding from home.


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## epipusher (Mar 12, 2012)

If you are driving as fast as you can to be within a specific time limit, who is liable if an accident occurs? You, or management?


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## Ewok Jerky (Mar 12, 2012)

SSM = <1 minute to be rolling.  I think its actually 45 sec.  

We have AVL and they will be looked at to see when we started moving in the event of a late call.


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## mycrofft (Mar 12, 2012)

Offutt AFB Crash Rescue: under ten seconds after the bell until out the doors for Rescue 6 and CHief 2/assistant (shift) chief during waking hours.


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## Shishkabob (Mar 12, 2012)

Yes, my agency tracks.  Mine :08.  Yup, 8 seconds.  

SSM.


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## fast65 (Mar 12, 2012)

There's no standard chute time for us, depending on who is in dispatch, it may take them 2-3 minutes from the time they took the call, to dispatch us. We're usually out of the bay within 2 minutes at the most.

Our response time standards vary from anywhere between 8 minutes up to 60 minutes.

EDIT: we run out of stations, so it takes us a bit longer to go en route.


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## 46Young (Mar 12, 2012)

We have two minutes to respond, day or night. If we're responding from PT, we'll advise over the air just in case we go over the two mins.


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## Joe (Mar 12, 2012)

I think we have 1 minute from tones to when we have to hit the mdt button. I don't know how strictly the enforce it tho. We have 8 mins 59secs to be on scene from that point


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## SoCal911 (Mar 12, 2012)

I have a minute to go enroute and 8 minutes and 29 seconds to get on scene.


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## SoCal911 (Mar 12, 2012)

Even from the station.


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## Tigger (Mar 12, 2012)

We're supposed to be moving within a minute of getting the call. However given that our trucks do not have GPS locators, this not really enforced. If there is a trend of a certain crew showing up late to multiple calls it can be reviewed by management to determine how long the drive should have been from the post that the truck started at. The majority of crews do not have a problem getting there on time though.

At night the medics get 2 minutes from being paged by dispatch to be out the door, but it's not like anyone gets in trouble if takes 3. BLS is always SSM, which sucks.


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## Medic Tim (Mar 12, 2012)

We have 1 min to answer page and be en route. We have avl but they only review if something bad happens or someone complains.


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## shfd739 (Mar 12, 2012)

Ours for emergencies are 60 secs during the daytime and 90secs overnight. 

Posting and non-emergency assignments are 3mins to be rolling. Dispatch tracks it off AVL. Miss one here or there and they wont say anything. Miss them consistently and it goes on dispatchers report and has to be addressed.


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## johnrsemt (Mar 12, 2012)

The 911 service I used to work for was 60sec day and 90sec nights.  The Private service was you marked enroute as soon as you got the call if it was an emergent or urgent  call.  (easy if you were sitting in the truck)  harder if you were out side the truck in a resturaunt, etc but we would mark it that way on the radio.

   Here our goal is 2 minutes,  but our ambulance bay at one station is almost 100yds away down 2 halls and outside then back into the bay.
   The other station it is only about 50'.     Or we are sitting in the trucks.

   Here the response time varies:  I have been over 30 miles from a call,  and 23 miles from a call on rough dirt roads.   It makes a big diffence:   but our coverage area is about 60X80 miles.  So it can take up to 2 hrs to get to somewhere;  and that is when the roads are good.


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## Bullets (Mar 12, 2012)

I assume you mean time till an ambulance is in service?

We dont have a requirement...But we adhere to the 5min 90% rule


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