Ok I just got the job today as an Ambulance EMT Driver. I am worried about the mapping on how to reach on my destination especially if you are not familiar of the road. I know all Ambulance Companies have there Thomas Guide Map Book in there Ambulance. I did use it but it is kinda complicated for me to get from one place to another especially if you do not know where you are. I've also noticed that it consumes more time especially if are handling Emergency Calls. I've seen some Ambulance Companies start using GPS however some people said that GPS is sometimes not accurate and it would lead you to wrong direction. I am new in this Ambulance Driver field. Is there any suggestion that you could give? I am going to buy the Navigator tomorrow, and at the same time I know how to use the Thomas Guide. I am just worried because I do not want to screwed up driving to the wrong address while my patient is waiting for me on the scene and dieing which could cause delay in case. Thank you.
EMT Drivers using GPS Navigators
- Thread starter Vanenix
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Shishkabob
Forum Chief
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Yes, there are times that a GPS unit can put you to the wrong location, almost exclusively do to a mispelling of your intended destination.
Yes, I've used GPS on 911 calls.
Just enter it in to your unit and drive, and have your partner confirm it using a map.
Yes, I've used GPS on 911 calls.
Just enter it in to your unit and drive, and have your partner confirm it using a map.
JPINFV
Gadfly
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Having worked in Orange County and Long Beach area using Thomas Guides and then moving to Massachusetts for grad school and working 6 months over there and using GPS, here's my take.
GPS:
Pros: Useful from day 1. Easy to use, easy to program.
Cons: Can't be updated (you can draw on a map).
You don't really learn the area.
You don't learn short cuts and alternative routes.
Can make mistakes or lose signal.
Maps:
Pro: You can see alternative routes as you're routing yourself.
Can mark additions.
Makes it easier to learn the area since you can see what's around you as you route.
Con:
Can be hard if you're not used to reading maps.
Takes time to be locally proficient.
Harder to update.
Personally, I'd take a map over GPS any day. The first month or so is painful, but you will pickup the freeway system. You will pick up the facilities your company normally responds/transports to. You will pick up the major streets. It just takes time. Once you do pick it up, you'll be faster than GPS because you already know how to get to where you need to go.
Note: Before anyone says it, saying, "Just drive your area on your day off" doesn't work in a large geographic area like Southern California where you might be anywhere in a 700+sq mile block of continuous development.
GPS:
Pros: Useful from day 1. Easy to use, easy to program.
Cons: Can't be updated (you can draw on a map).
You don't really learn the area.
You don't learn short cuts and alternative routes.
Can make mistakes or lose signal.
Maps:
Pro: You can see alternative routes as you're routing yourself.
Can mark additions.
Makes it easier to learn the area since you can see what's around you as you route.
Con:
Can be hard if you're not used to reading maps.
Takes time to be locally proficient.
Harder to update.
Personally, I'd take a map over GPS any day. The first month or so is painful, but you will pickup the freeway system. You will pick up the facilities your company normally responds/transports to. You will pick up the major streets. It just takes time. Once you do pick it up, you'll be faster than GPS because you already know how to get to where you need to go.
Note: Before anyone says it, saying, "Just drive your area on your day off" doesn't work in a large geographic area like Southern California where you might be anywhere in a 700+sq mile block of continuous development.
bstone
Forum Deputy Chief
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Can't update GPS maps? Of course you can. Mine bugs me all the time saying it needs to be updated, and my GPS is from 2007.
GPS is a great idea as long as the address gets in there correctly. Save the addresses of the hospitals and select them by name when headed to them.
There is always going to be a failure. Let it not be getting lost.
GPS is a great idea as long as the address gets in there correctly. Save the addresses of the hospitals and select them by name when headed to them.
There is always going to be a failure. Let it not be getting lost.
Shishkabob
Forum Chief
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Or anywhere in the DFW area that has 12 counties, making up 8,000 sq Mi...bigger than Rhode Island and Con. combined.
JPINFV
Gadfly
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I bet I can add a street easier and cheaper to a map than to a GPS unit.
bstone
Forum Deputy Chief
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I'll bet you a chair.
Shishkabob
Forum Chief
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I bet you an ink pen that I can too.
the_negro_puppy
Forum Asst. Chief
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I use GPS all the time. All of our ambulances are fitted with them. I find them 95% reliable and always have a mapbook ready to use in conjunction.
firecoins
IFT Puppet
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Yes, a GPS can be reprogramed and updated to show new roads or better routes.
I'm one of the few people who isnt native to the area I work in, so I swear by the GPS. That being said there are some Medics who wont let me use it and just navigate me themselves.
The only time we ever had a problem with the GPS was when it decided to take us on a "shortcut" (dirt road) instead of the highway.
The only time we ever had a problem with the GPS was when it decided to take us on a "shortcut" (dirt road) instead of the highway.
Cohn
Forum Lieutenant
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Man out here in rural Arizona our GPS has never failed us. Dirt roads are fun to drive 80% of our calls involves dirt roads or two tracks.
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IMHO, if you DO use a GPS unit, use a map for a while to also map out what YOU think the best route should be. The compare the two. After a while, you'll find that YOU know the local traffic patterns better than the GPS does and YOU will know where the commonly transported to locations are and how to get there from ANYWHERE as long as you know where you are on the map. For a long time, I was familiar enough with the San Jose Metro area that as long as I had a TG page and grid number, I could drive to the right general area without looking at the map. I only needed guidance in for about the last mile or so... And since I drove to the area, I was able to also plan my trip towards the destination without using the map or GPS.
I've lived in our small-ish (20k people) town for 35 years and there are still quite a few obscure little streets that I don't know about. We have GPS in both trucks. It helps me at 3 in the morning to distinguish "Oban Way" from "Obannon Place".
GPS also helps with house numbers on those longer roads. "you have arrived at your destination, on the right"
GPS also helps with house numbers on those longer roads. "you have arrived at your destination, on the right"
LucidResq
Forum Deputy Chief
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I agree with Akula's advice. I bet doing that will also prevent you from becoming overly dependent on the GPS and help you learn how to use the maps.
I'd also suggest learning as much about how the streets are laid out in your area as you can. Most places are set up on some sort of grid, and if you learn more about how the streets are numbered, named and such, you can start cracking the code and find where you're going much more easily.
Using this system I can easily find many locations without even looking at a map or anything like that. For example, around here we have a hundred-block system. A grocery store is located at 655 N. Main St. I know that the hundred-block for Main St. is 12100 E, meaning it is 121 blocks East of the 000 block, which is like the Y axis.
The address of the grocery store tells me where it is located on Example St... 655 means it's between 6-7 blocks North of the other 000 street, the X axis. I know that the 600 block is Something Ave, and that the 700 block is Example Ave. So I know that 655 N. Main St. is located on Main St. between Example and Something.
Since I have all of the major streets and their corresponding hundred blocks memorized, I also know where all of these streets are in relation to a single central location. Our city also follows NOW SEE rule - Odd numbered addresses are located on either the North or West side of the street (depending on which direction it runs) and Even addresses are on the the South or East side. 655 N. Main St. must be located on the West side since the street runs North/South.
Of course, this may not be how your city is set up, and there are always exceptions to the rules: roads that don't run through, crazy curvy roads and such. But most cities have some sort of rhyme or reason that can help you predict where an address or intersection will be. My suggestion would be to ask around and see if any of your coworkers are aware of such a system. I've also found that cops tend to be great resources for this kind of stuff, since they tend to be out on the street more than EMS or Fire and usually have excellent knowledge of local geography.
I'd also suggest learning as much about how the streets are laid out in your area as you can. Most places are set up on some sort of grid, and if you learn more about how the streets are numbered, named and such, you can start cracking the code and find where you're going much more easily.
Using this system I can easily find many locations without even looking at a map or anything like that. For example, around here we have a hundred-block system. A grocery store is located at 655 N. Main St. I know that the hundred-block for Main St. is 12100 E, meaning it is 121 blocks East of the 000 block, which is like the Y axis.
The address of the grocery store tells me where it is located on Example St... 655 means it's between 6-7 blocks North of the other 000 street, the X axis. I know that the 600 block is Something Ave, and that the 700 block is Example Ave. So I know that 655 N. Main St. is located on Main St. between Example and Something.
Since I have all of the major streets and their corresponding hundred blocks memorized, I also know where all of these streets are in relation to a single central location. Our city also follows NOW SEE rule - Odd numbered addresses are located on either the North or West side of the street (depending on which direction it runs) and Even addresses are on the the South or East side. 655 N. Main St. must be located on the West side since the street runs North/South.
Of course, this may not be how your city is set up, and there are always exceptions to the rules: roads that don't run through, crazy curvy roads and such. But most cities have some sort of rhyme or reason that can help you predict where an address or intersection will be. My suggestion would be to ask around and see if any of your coworkers are aware of such a system. I've also found that cops tend to be great resources for this kind of stuff, since they tend to be out on the street more than EMS or Fire and usually have excellent knowledge of local geography.
dixie_flatline
Forum Captain
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I tend to agree with 94H. I've been wishing for awhile that a GPS would come out that was learning/semi-learning. So you could tell it "yes I know taking these 5 suburban streets is shorter, but if I go 3 more blocks down I can take the Big Road and go straight through" and then it would know to do that from now on. As far as I can tell, even the GPS units that offer multiple routes or quick detour/rerouting don't "learn" anything.
Too Old To Work
Forum Lieutenant
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There are some distinct advantages to using a GPS, especially if you cover a large area. Like any other piece of technology it has to be used with some degree of caution and a lot of common sense. Of course there is no reason that you can't use both, one as primary, one as back up.
Updating the GPS is neccesary, especially if you are in an area that is expanding rapidly. OTOH, if your coverage area is pretty stable in regards to new roads and sub developments, you can probably go the life of the device (figure 2-3 years) without paying for an update. The technology of consuming grade GPS devices is advancing rapidly, so as with a cell phone a 2-3 year replacement cycle is pretty reasonable.
If you have a computer mounted in your ambulance or if you use an ePCR system and the hardware has surplus capability, you can use that as well. The advantage there being that it's easier to update. The disadvantage being that it's still hard to get state or regional maps, so you'll likely end up with something that covers the entire US.
If you're really lucky and you have mobile CAD in your ambulances (which is rare in EMS) all of the new systems offer mapping with route planning (automatically) as an option.
I'd say that the GPS is going to be one of those "must have" pieces of technology within a few years. Wasn't there a recent incident in part of NYC where neither EMS nor suppression had current paper maps and the response was delayed?
Updating the GPS is neccesary, especially if you are in an area that is expanding rapidly. OTOH, if your coverage area is pretty stable in regards to new roads and sub developments, you can probably go the life of the device (figure 2-3 years) without paying for an update. The technology of consuming grade GPS devices is advancing rapidly, so as with a cell phone a 2-3 year replacement cycle is pretty reasonable.
If you have a computer mounted in your ambulance or if you use an ePCR system and the hardware has surplus capability, you can use that as well. The advantage there being that it's easier to update. The disadvantage being that it's still hard to get state or regional maps, so you'll likely end up with something that covers the entire US.
If you're really lucky and you have mobile CAD in your ambulances (which is rare in EMS) all of the new systems offer mapping with route planning (automatically) as an option.
I'd say that the GPS is going to be one of those "must have" pieces of technology within a few years. Wasn't there a recent incident in part of NYC where neither EMS nor suppression had current paper maps and the response was delayed?
Your right, the only problem is that the company needs to update the units.
At my place one of the major roads isnt on the GPS as it is too "new"