ASTM F1552-94(2016)

Standard Practice for Training Instructor Qualification and Certification Eligibility of Emergency Medical Dispatchers

SIGNIFICANCE AND USE
4.1 The emergency medical dispatcher should be a specially trained telecommunicator with specific emergency medical knowledge. These EMS personnel have traditionally performed this role without the benefits of dispatch specific medical training and medically sound protocols. Prompt, correct, and appropriate patient care can be enhanced with the use of a standardized approach to selection, training and performance assessment. This standard guide is intended for use by agencies, organizations and jurisdictions having the responsibility for providing the training, practice, and evaluation of emergency medical dispatchers.
SCOPE
1.1 This practice covers the training structure and primary function of emergency medical dispatchers. The primary function of the emergency medical dispatcher is the management of calls for emergency medical assistance as outlined in Practice F1258 and NAEMSP Position Paper on emergency medical dispatch. Training as an emergency medical technician, paramedic, nurse, physician, or basic telecommunicator does not prepare a person to function as an EMD. The emergency medical dispatching functions have become so specialized that only an individual with dispatch specific medical training can perform the required tasks. This practice will delineate the training structure for the essential role of emergency medical dispatcher.  
1.2 This practice is intended to outline the basic areas of knowledge required for an EMD, and to standardize the expectations and training between the various educational settings that are available to deliver the EMD training. This practice is not intended to serve as a curriculum for a training agency. All curricula developed or selected shall include the key components outlined in this practice.  
1.3 It is understood that each agency may possess special and unique needs related to the training of EMDs. However, those specialty training areas that lie outside the scope of this standard shall not be included in selected 24 h minimum curriculum delineated by this practice. Additional training as desired may be annexed but may not supplant the learning goals required by this practice.  
1.4 The scope of this standard includes:  
1.4.1 EMD instructor qualifications,  
1.4.2 Student selection criteria for emergency medical dispatcher candidates,  
1.4.3 Emergency medical dispatcher training curriculum guideline,  
1.4.4 Guidelines for EMD course goals and minimum time allocations,  
1.4.5 Testing and evaluation of the student utilizing the stated course goals as basis for certification or certification eligibility as an emergency medical dispatcher,  
1.4.6 Recommended equipment, materials, and facilities for training,  
1.4.7 Guidelines for training course administration and record maintenance, and  
1.4.8 Guidelines for an optional EMD preceptorship.  
1.5 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 31-May-2016
• ICS: 11.160 - First aid
• Technical Committee: F30 - Emergency Medical Services
• Drafting Committee: F30.02 - Personnel, Training and Education

Relations

• Replaces: ASTM F1552-94(2009) - Standard Practice for Training Instructor Qualification and Certification Eligibility of Emergency Medical Dispatchers
• Effective Date: 01-Jun-2016
• Refers: ASTM F1177-02(2009) - Standard Terminology Relating to Emergency Medical Services (Withdrawn 2018)
• Effective Date: 01-Mar-2009
• Refers: ASTM F1258-95(2006) - Standard Practice for Emergency Medical Dispatch
• Effective Date: 01-Mar-2006
• Refers: ASTM F1177-02 - Standard Terminology Relating to Emergency Medical Services
• Effective Date: 10-Sep-2002
• Refers: ASTM F1258-95(2001) - Standard Practice for Emergency Medical Dispatch
• Effective Date: 01-Jan-2001
• Refers: ASTM F1258-95 - Standard Practice for Emergency Medical Dispatch
• Effective Date: 01-Jan-2001
• Refers: ASTM F1177-96a - Standard Terminology Relating to Emergency Medical Services
• Effective Date: 01-Jan-1996
• Referred By: ASTM F1258-95(2022) - Standard Practice for Emergency Medical Dispatch
• Effective Date: 01-Jun-2016
• Referred By: ASTM F1220-95(2022) - Standard Guide for Emergency Medical Services System (EMSS) Telecommunications
• Effective Date: 01-Jun-2016
• Referred By: ASTM F1560-00(2022) - Standard Practice for Emergency Medical Dispatch Management
• Effective Date: 01-Jun-2016
• Referred By: ASTM F1229-01(2016) - Standard Guide for Qualification and Training of EMS Air Medical Patient Care Providers
• Effective Date: 01-Jun-2016

Overview

ASTM F1552-94(2016) - Standard Practice for Training Instructor Qualification and Certification Eligibility of Emergency Medical Dispatchers provides a framework for the effective selection, training, and certification of emergency medical dispatchers (EMDs). This standard outlines the minimum qualifications for instructors, selection criteria for dispatcher candidates, training curriculum guidelines, and certification processes to ensure that EMDs are adequately trained for their critical role in emergency response systems.

Emergency medical dispatchers are specialized telecommunicators with emergency medical knowledge, acting as the vital link between the public in crisis and emergency medical services (EMS). Through standardized approaches in training and evaluation, this ASTM standard supports agencies, organizations, and jurisdictions in achieving prompt and accurate EMS call handling, thereby enhancing patient outcomes and optimizing EMS resource allocation.

Key Topics

Key aspects covered by ASTM F1552-94(2016) include:

• Instructor Qualifications: EMD trainers must have advanced emergency medical experience (such as advanced EMT, paramedic, or critical care nurse) and proven teaching competence in related fields.
• Candidate Selection Criteria: Dispatcher candidates must demonstrate strong communication skills, the ability to multitask under stress, and compassion for callers and patients. Minimum educational and clerical abilities are specified.
• Training Curriculum Guidance: Provides essential content areas and minimum training time (24 hours), focusing on EMD system history, roles, medical-legal aspects, dispatcher life support, emergency call interrogation, and pre-arrival instruction protocols.
• Evaluation and Certification Eligibility: Establishes requirements for student performance testing, documentation, and eligibility criteria for certification as an emergency medical dispatcher.
• Recommended Training Materials and Equipment: Details the need for audio-visual aids, reference materials, and a conducive classroom environment to enhance the learning experience.
• Course Administration: Sets guidelines for maintaining accurate course, instructor, and student records, along with processes for course evaluation.
• Optional Preceptorship: Suggests supervised, practical training in a live dispatch environment as an enhancement to formal instruction.

Applications

The ASTM F1552-94(2016) standard delivers practical benefits across various sectors involved in emergency response:

• Emergency Communications Centers: Ensures new and existing emergency medical dispatchers meet nationally recognized competencies, improving call processing, triage, and life-saving instruction delivery.
• EMS Providers and Public Safety Agencies: Supports standardized training to facilitate interoperability and efficient resource deployment across dispatch and clinical agencies.
• Training Institutions: Offers a structure for developing or selecting dispatcher training curricula, ensuring comprehensive education aligned with best practices.
• Certification and Accreditation Bodies: Provides a benchmark to assess dispatcher competence for credentialing or recertification.
• Quality Assurance Programs: Establishes the foundation for ongoing evaluation, protocol compliance, and continual skills improvement in EMS dispatch.

Related Standards

Agencies and training organizations utilizing ASTM F1552-94(2016) should reference these related standards and publications to complement their emergency medical dispatcher training programs:

• ASTM F1258 – Practice for Emergency Medical Dispatch
• NAEMSP Position Paper on Emergency Medical Dispatch
• APCO Basic Telecommunicator Student Manual
• Principles of Emergency Medical Dispatch (Brady/Prentice Hall)
• EMS Medical Directors Handbook

To ensure comprehensive emergency communications training, consider the interrelated disciplines of law enforcement dispatch, fire communications, and aeromedical telecommunications, as outlined in the referenced standards and supporting literature.

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Keywords: emergency medical dispatcher, EMD, training instructor qualification, certification eligibility, emergency medical dispatch, telecommunicator, dispatch life support, EMS standards, ASTM F1552 compliance, pre-arrival instructions, public safety communications

Standards Content (Sample)

This international standard was developed in accordance with internationally recognized principles on standardization established in the Decision on Principles for the
Development of International Standards, Guides and Recommendations issued by the World Trade Organization Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee.
Designation: F1552 −94 (Reapproved 2016)
Standard Practice for
Training Instructor Qualification and Certification Eligibility
of Emergency Medical Dispatchers
This standard is issued under the fixed designation F1552; the number immediately following the designation indicates the year of
original adoption or, in the case of revision, the year of last revision. A number in parentheses indicates the year of last reapproval. A
superscript epsilon (´) indicates an editorial change since the last revision or reapproval.
INTRODUCTION
The emergency medical dispatcher (EMD) is the principal link between the public requesting
emergency medical assistance and the emergency medical services (EMS) system. The EMD plays a
key role in the ability of the EMS system to respond to a perceived medical emergency. The benefits
of specifically trained emergency medical dispatchers are far reaching. Through medical dispatch,
specific education, and compliance to medically sound policies and procedures, the EMD is able to
accurately interrogate the caller, dispatch the appropriate responders, provide pertinent information to
responders, and give instructions to aid patients via the caller.
This practice provides direction for the training and certification of emergency medical dispatchers
to assist them in making appropriate decisions about EMS responses in a safe, consistent and
non-arbitrary manner. EMS systems with emergency medical dispatchers trained to this practice
provide pre-arrival instructions to the caller to assist the patient until pre-hospital care arrives. The
EMD concept provides for safer vehicle response configurations and modes. It may reduce operating
costs by preserving specialized EMS resources for those emergencies requiring them.
The EMD training curriculum is not intended to furnish all inclusive telecommunications education
required for the emergency medical dispatcher or public safety telecommunicator. EMD training
provides only the additional education affecting the practice of dispatching emergency medical
resources such as ambulances, rescue units, first responder units and other types of responding units
of an emergency medical nature; coordinating these response units with those of other public safety
agencies; and providing instructions to the calling party to assist in preserving life prior to the arrival
of responding units. The curriculum is intended to provide specific knowledge and medical
information above that required of a previously trained and educated basic public safety telecommu-
nicator. EMD training is only one module of education required of emergency medical services
telecommunicators. It is a subspecialty of both public safety communications and emergency medical
services systems that is required within a comprehensive public safety communications center where
other disciplines of communications are practiced and should be present in all EMS systems.
Additional disciplines include law enforcement, fire, and aeromedical telecommunications.
This practice is one of a set of applicable standards relating to the emergency medical dispatch
function. The reader is directed to obtain relatedASTM documents that encompass the administration
of EMD programs and Practice F1258.
1. Scope calls for emergency medical assistance as outlined in Practice
F1258 and NAEMSP Position Paper on emergency medical
1.1 This practice covers the training structure and primary
dispatch. Training as an emergency medical technician,
function of emergency medical dispatchers. The primary func-
paramedic, nurse, physician, or basic telecommunicator does
tionoftheemergencymedicaldispatcheristhemanagementof
not prepare a person to function as an EMD. The emergency
medical dispatching functions have become so specialized that
This practice is under the jurisdiction ofASTM Committee F30 on Emergency
only an individual with dispatch specific medical training can
Medical Services and is the direct responsibility of Subcommittee F30.02 on
Personnel, Training and Education.
perform the required tasks. This practice will delineate the
Current edition approved June 1, 2016. Published June 2016. Originally
training structure for the essential role of emergency medical
approved in 1994. Last previous edition approved in 2009 as F1552 – 94(2009).
dispatcher.
DOI: 10.1520/F1552-94R16.
Copyright © ASTM International, 100 Barr Harbor Drive, PO Box C700, West Conshohocken, PA 19428-2959. United States
F1552 − 94 (2016)
1.2 This practice is intended to outline the basic areas of local dispatch agency to dispatch aid to medical emergencies,
knowledge required for an EMD, and to standardize the which includes: systematized caller interrogation questions,
expectations and training between the various educational systematized pre-arrival instructions, and protocols matching
settings that are available to deliver the EMD training. This the dispatcher’s evaluation of injury or illness severity with
practice is not intended to serve as a curriculum for a training vehicle response mode and configuration.
agency. All curricula developed or selected shall include the 3.1.3.1 Discussion—An EMDPRS is not any particular
key components outlined in this practice.
proprietary set of cards or questions. It is a generic set of
protocols meeting this description.
1.3 It is understood that each agency may possess special
and unique needs related to the training of EMDs. However, 3.1.4 EMD preceptorship—a supervised dispatcher intern-
ship sponsored by the training agency.
those specialty training areas that lie outside the scope of this
standard shall not be included in selected 24 h minimum
3.1.5 EMD selection—the process that establishes criteria to
curriculum delineated by this practice. Additional training as
identify a candidate for training as an emergency medical
desired may be annexed but may not supplant the learning
dispatcher (EMD).
goals required by this practice.
3.1.6 pre-arrival instructions—telephone rendered, medi-
1.4 The scope of this standard includes:
cally approved written instructions given by trained emergency
1.4.1 EMD instructor qualifications,
medical dispatchers through callers that help to provide aid to
1.4.2 Student selection criteria for emergency medical dis-
the victim and control of the situation prior to patient access by
patcher candidates,
pre-hospital care providers.
1.4.3 Emergency medical dispatcher training curriculum
3.1.7 public safety telecommunicator—an individual trained
guideline,
to communicate by electronic means with persons seeking
1.4.4 Guidelines for EMD course goals and minimum time
emergency assistance and with agencies and individuals pro-
allocations,
viding such assistance.
1.4.5 Testing and evaluation of the student utilizing the
stated course goals as basis for certification or certification
4. Significance and Use
eligibility as an emergency medical dispatcher,
1.4.6 Recommended equipment, materials, and facilities for 4.1 The emergency medical dispatcher should be a specially
trained telecommunicator with specific emergency medical
training,
1.4.7 Guidelines for training course administration and knowledge. These EMS personnel have traditionally per-
formed this role without the benefits of dispatch specific
record maintenance, and
medical training and medically sound protocols. Prompt,
1.4.8 Guidelines for an optional EMD preceptorship.
correct, and appropriate patient care can be enhanced with the
1.5 This standard does not purport to address all of the
use of a standardized approach to selection, training and
safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the
performance assessment. This standard guide is intended for
responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appro-
use by agencies, organizations and jurisdictions having the
priate safety and health practices and determine the applica-
responsibility for providing the training, practice, and evalua-
bility of regulatory limitations prior to use.
tion of emergency medical dispatchers.
2. Referenced Documents
2 5. Instructor Qualifications
2.1 ASTM Standards:
F1177 Terminology Relating to Emergency Medical Ser- 5.1 All instructors shall be thoroughly knowledgeable about
the emergency medical dispatching environment and with the
vices
F1258 Practice for Emergency Medical Dispatch working environment of public safety telecommunications.
5.2 It is essential that the emergency medical dispatch
3. Terminology
instructor be capable of understanding, adequately presenting,
3.1 Definitions of Terms Specific to This Standard:
and defending ALS level-Dispatch Life Support information.
3.1.1 coding—the selection and assignment of an alphanu-
Thisnecessitatesthattheinstructorresponsibleforteachingthe
meric classification to a call by an EMD.
medical portion of the training program have training, skill,
and experience at the advanced EMT (EMT-I/EMT-P) level.
3.1.2 emergency medical dispatcher (EMD)—a trained pub-
Alternatively, this instructor may be a critical care trained
lic safety telecommunicator with additional training and spe-
physician, nurse or physician assistant. This level of instructor
cific emergency medical knowledge essential for the efficient
qualification is necessary to facilitate the student’s understand-
management of emergency medical communications.
ing of medical classifications necessary to interrogate and
3.1.3 emergency medical dispatch priority reference system
evaluate the input of the caller, as well as their ability to
(EMDPRS)—a medically approved reference system used by a
systematically categorize the information obtained from the
caller and assign appropriate and locally designed response
For referenced ASTM standards, visit the ASTM website, www.astm.org, or configurations and modes.
contact ASTM Customer Service at [e-mail]. For Annual Book of ASTM
5.3 The instructor shall have proven competence as an
Standards volume information, refer to the standard’s Document Summary page on
the ASTM website. instructor in a related field.
F1552 − 94 (2016)
5.4 EMD instructors shall be proficient in the specific skills 7.3 The curriculum used shall include the learning goals
and concepts taught in the EMD course. contained in this practice.
5.5 Each instructor shall have successfully completed a 7.4 The specific curriculum used must follow a logical and
recognized EMD training course. progressive sequence of presentation.
7.5 The medical portion of the emergency medical dispatch
6. Selection Criteria for Training
priority reference system (EMDPRS) shall not be modified or
changedinanymannerbytheinstructingagencyorinstructors.
6.1 Each EMD training entity shall adopt a formal written
policydelineatingtheselectionproceduresforindividualstobe
8. Emergency Medical Dispatcher Course Goals and
trained or employed as emergency medical dispatchers, or
Minimum Time Allocations
both. It must address the ability to:
6.1.1 Read and write at a high school graduate or GED 8.1 This course provides instruction and skills practice
level; sufficient to achieve EMD certification eligibility. The mini-
6.1.2 Perform those clerical skills as delineated by the
mum time allocation of this course shall be 24 h.
employing agency;
8.2 The following EMD course goals are delineated with
6.1.3 Perform verbal skills in a clear and understandable
their associated minimum time allocations. Although 19 h are
manner, in the required language or languages established in
mandated, all 24 h of the EMD course must be utilized in
the criteria as necessary to that dispatch prov
...