Call Priority

When a call for help is received, Emergency Medical Call-Takers (EMCTs) and Emergency Medical Dispatchers (EMDs) use an internationally recognized Medical Priority Dispatch System to quickly assess the severity of the patient's condition and respond with the appropriate help. Pre-Hospital events are triaged similarly to how patient conditions are assessed in a hospital emergency room, with the most critical patients attended to first. The BC Ambulance Service prioritizes how ambulances are dispatched based on the caller's description of the nature and extent of the medical condition or injury. Approximately 70% per cent of ambulance transports are conducted in a manner that does not require an emergency driving response.