Following report aims to describe the situation and approach in the Emergency Control Center of Styria during the period of March to early April 2020.
Emergency Control Center Styria
The Emergency Control Center Styria (RLS) is operated by the Regional Association of Styria of the Austrian Red Cross and serves as the central pre-hospital point of contact for healthcare in Styria. The emergency call 144, ambulance transports, and since April 2019, the health advisory service 1450, are managed by the control center. The telephone health advisory service is operated nationwide by various partners on behalf of the federal government. In Styria, the Red Cross has been entrusted with this task. The phone number 1450 in Austria is similar to Germany’s 116 117.
The Emergency Control Center Styria typically operates 35 workstations and employs over 160 staff members in total. This includes approximately 75 professional and about 55 volunteer control center dispatchers, as well as around 30 qualified health and nursing professionals.
Each year, approximately 1.3 million incoming phone calls are processed.
Situation in March 2020
At the beginning of March, the first COVID-19 cases appeared in Styria. The Austrian Federal Government designated the health advisory service 1450 as the central contact point for telephone case assessments. Due to this widely publicized decision, the call volume on the 1450 number drastically increased, reaching a peak in mid-March with nearly 40 times the usual daily call volume compared to previous months. By the end of March, the number of calls decreased again, stabilizing at about 3 to 4 times the normal daily call volume.
Additionally, the newly established mobile testing teams, which conducted tests at patients’ homes for suspected cases, were dispatched through the RLS.
Measures in the Emergency Control Center Styria
As it became apparent in early March that the number of calls would increase, and based on media reports indicating a massive surge in calls to 1450, a substantial increase in control center resources was decided. Eight additional workstations were set up in the training room, and nearly 20 additional employees from the large pool of volunteer paramedics were hired as additional call-takers. These new staff members were trained quickly and focused on the essential functions of the emergency dispatch system and the telephone system to assist the control center dispatchers and health professionals in handling the calls. Additionally, doctors were involved in the background for the final approvals of the tests.
To ensure that all employees could conduct case assessments, a special module was developed in collaboration with Noratec for the standardized emergency call query DIAS50Pweb, which was already in use at the RLS. Thanks to the excellent cooperation with Noratec, this module was implemented and delivered within just 72 hours. Following this, all staff members were trained in using the special module.
Due to the decision to increase resources and the rapid response of the emergency call query software provider, the Emergency Control Center Styria was able to ensure that all employees—whether control center dispatchers, health professionals, or additional call-takers—could conduct standardized case assessments. From the author’s perspective, this case demonstrates the advantages of having a standardized query in place and the opportunities it provides in exceptional situations.