Dr. Aliza Brown, UAMS, and Enqbator have collaborated on the We Train 911 App. This app gives 911 dispatchers a sense of how to triage medical emergencies. It's available for free. Congrats, Dr. Brown!

Dr. Aliza Brown, professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, saw a problem. Out of Arkansas’ seventy-five counties, only five had certified EMS dispatchers. In other counties, personnel without formal medical training were simply given the address of the emergency. They had no sense of how to assess the urgency of a situation, or how to treat it. If a situation escalated, EMS personnel could not stabilize patients en route. This made it difficult to provide ambulance drivers necessary information about patients.

Luckily, Dr. Brown had a solution. She had the idea to design a training program for 911 dispatchers in Arkansas. Using her requirements and our development expertise, Enqbator designed the We Train 911 app. According to Brown, “the purpose of the app is to provide medical information to dispatchers that might not have that kind of training.” It also teaches dispatchers to listen for the most important details of 911 calls. By taking the class, dispatchers learn how to triage a call properly when a patient exhibits danger signs of a stroke, heart attack, or otherwise, and are able to respond in case the emergency intensifies.

Registered participants complete units about Communication Techniques, Medical Triage, and Trauma Assessments. After each unit, they take practice tests. Once started, trainees cannot go back to completed sections, but they can leave tests and pick up from where they were. After they have finished the course, they have the option to take the test for certification. If a trainee completes the course with a passing grade, they are sent a certificate and their supervisor is also sent a notification that they received the certificate. If a student receives a failing grade, they can retake the test.

To accommodate the needs of the busy dispatcher, the app is entirely online, accessible to all desktop computers and mobile devices. Participants can take it based on their own schedule. It’s available for free on both the Google Play and Apple Stores.

Brown has received a $90,000 grant from the NIH to build and study the success of the app. Their hope is that eventually they will spread the app’s uses to the rural areas of other states, which need solutions like this most. The app was highlighted by northwest Arkansas’ NBC affiliate.

To realize her vision, Brown needed developers with expertise and flexibility. She also needed help from people who were able to work with her ideas, who could understand her needs and deliver a product that met them. She chose Enqbator.

For more information, read these two articles…

http://www.nwahomepage.com/news/uams-professor-creates-free-app-to-medically-train-dispatchers/714416349

https://uamshealth.com/news/2017/05/15/uams-researchers-mobile-application-enhances-training-for-emergency-dispatchers/

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The App creator is a published scientist with credentials in Medical, Epidemiology and Health Policy & Management in central Arkansas. Her knowledge of pre-hospital care provided across Arkansas and other southern states, helped form the basis for creating the training App in basic medical concepts. This service provides free training to Public Safety Dispatch Operators whose small rural communities lack the resources for medically trained dispatchers. Surveyed paramedics located in small rural communities, provided the App’s outline of training material for improving rural dispatched communications and enhancing pre-hospital care delivery. 

Funding for the App‘s creation was provided in part from a government grant by the National Institutes of Health, NIGMS, Institutional Developmental Award (IDeA) Award P30 GM110702 and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Center for Translational Neurosciences (CTN).