GPS and Ambulances

firemed17

firemed17

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Hey guys, just had a quick question, probably kind of dumb but I cant seem to find the answer anywhere. The question is: If a companies ambulance has a GPS in it, and you are called to a scene, does the address feed from the dispatch directly to the ambulance's GPS, or does it have to be manually typed in? Sorry if it sounds dumb, just wondering.
 
Depends on type of GPS and dispatching system.
 
Our drivers grew up here and know this area blind so they don't even use it. The GPS is for the transplanted rookies like me and I manually input the addresses.
 
Ours is already done when we go en route to a call, everything is sent from dispatch, and we have a touch screen to go en route, on scene, etcetc and it's all timestamped. Basically don't even need to use the radio.

However, the GPS is flawed and doesn't always find the quickest way. Never trust it. Hell, ours only works 20% of the time anyway lol. I'll stick to radio traffic and my own directions 99% of the time.
 
We have the GPS and a huge book of maps. The dispatch will tell us what page we should go like "Delta 2, Echo 3. Address is blah blah" then we know where the location is. Hit the screen and it will show you directions to where we should go. Then we always look for a shorter route with the map book.
 
Many Ambu Co. use GPS as a system of tracking the rigs. Big brother sort of thing.
 
We have a map book and although the service just spent millions on MDTs, they can tell us only the most basic of call information and do not include GPS or a map, good one whoever thought that up.

A lot of people are bringing thier own GPS units and using them now but because our coverage areas are generally quite small its local knowledge and a map book to supplument.

The Navman has only ever steered me wrong once.
 
The dispatch software we used, which was supposedly cutting edge, had horrible GPS that would show the roads, but only label the major ones. If we got a call we could see a star on the map, and that was it. There was no routing capability that would show you how to get to where you were to where you needed to go.

People would bring their own GPS units, but we really relied on map books for all of our calls. Even if I were to use the GPS the sequence would go something like:

1. Dispatch would dispatch us to a call, providing an address, map book page, and map book quadrant.
2. My partner would look it up in the map book while I got it on GPS.
3. We'd confirm our route and go.

The on-board GPS wasn't even part of the process, we'd just click "en route" on the touch screen MDT when we found the address and were on the way.

The truck's GPS system was mainly a way for dispatch to track us, not as a means of navigation.
 
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We use facilis MDT, we never have to use the radio with everything being sent over the computers including dispatch info, putting ourselves en route, on scene, selecting a destination and back in service etc. That said I never rely on the mapping as there is any number of minor oversights which can cause a completely wrong map point. Knowing how to read a good old paper mapbook and knowing your response area are crucial.
 
We have Thomas guides, I love them. When we get a page for a call it provides the mapbook page for the pick up and the destination. It's easy, I like it. I grew up in San Diego so I know my way around for the most part.
 
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