1.1 Introduction
The emergency ambulance dispatch system or computer aided dispatch system (CAD) is a web based application that efficiency receives a phone call from all services, records the details of an emergency including location, finds the next available ambulance and dispatches the ambulance as fast as possible with some minute. As technology and particularly computer technology evolved, the dispatching of EMS resources took on an entirely new dimension and required completely new skill sets. The process of dispatching was supported by computers and moved in many locates to a paperless system that require above average computer skills. System not only permitted in dispatcher to record the call information, but also automated the call triage process, allowing system to become algorithm-based decision support tools.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Today, it is believed that the application of computer technology in any activity would go a long way in making that activity much easier. This system is designed to locate the available ambulance near the incident location and dispatch them as per requirement, to the researcher. To this end, the researcher sees the above statement as a theory until proven otherwise by ambulance dispatch system. It is also understood that the benefit of using computer supersede that of the manual method.
The computer aided dispatcher system will constantly monitor the location and status of response resources, making response resource assignment recommendations to human dispatchers, allowing human dispatchers to watch the physical movement of their resources across a computerized map. Ambulance dispatchers required little in the way of qualifications, apart from good telephone manners and knowledge of a local geography. The design and implementation of the new system will prove beyond doubt by the researcher.
1.3 Statement of the Problem
Investigation revealed that the sudden increase in the number of emergency reported by the federal road safety has transcended the manipulation of the existing system used by the ambulance dispatcher and this prompted a lot of problem which encompass the delay of dispatching ambulance it was very complicated to observed or track the location of any dispatch ambulance. Since there was no tracking facility in the manual method, it was very difficult to keep record of ambulance available and ambulance on duty. All these and more are encountered due to the debilitation of the prevailing system used.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of the study is to design and implement a dispatch system that will help to speed up the rate of dispatching ambulance in order to carter for an emergency in the society. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows to develop an application software that will:
- Provide fastest ambulance services to the victims of any emergency incidents;
- Enable management track the status of each ambulance and the ambulance activity.
- Decrease the amount of paper work must be file; and
- Help the company ensure provision of adequate amount of ambulance for each of the service.
1.5 Significance of Study
The system greatly decreases the amount of paperwork that must be filed. This system shall also help the company ensure that they are providing an adequate amount of ambulance for each of the service area by enabling the management to track the status of each ambulance and a log of ambulance activity. The study will also be relevance in the following ways:
- The study will introduce a software that will speed-up the rate of dispatching ambulance.
- It will enable the company to track the status of each ambulance.
- This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work.
1.6 Scope of the Study
The scope of this research focuses on the design and implementation of an automated ambulance dispatch system using federal road safety, Owerri, Imo State as a case study.
1.7 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this institution to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials.
1.8 Definition of Terms
CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch): This is the name given to the software system under consideration.
Caller: Is the person who calls the 911 service and asks for an ambulance.
LTS (Location Tracking System): Is the independent software component that accepts caller phone number from (CAD) and provides location details to CAD. This is a mapping system.
Dispatcher: Is the person who receives the phone call from operator, enter incident information into CAD system, and processes the necessary details for dispatching the ambulance.
