The document provides an annual report from the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch (IAED). It summarizes the IAED's mission to develop best practices and protocols to help emergency dispatchers assist callers. It provides statistics on IAED membership, certifications, instructor numbers, countries using protocols, and research publications. The report outlines the process for updating protocols based on user feedback and research evidence.

1. AnnualReport
Message from Doc
At the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch® (IAED™), we believe the
communication center is the foundation, the first link, of timely and necessary
emergency response. We are committed to developing the best tools available to
help people during their medical, police, or fire emergency. We get excited when our
protocols and processes prove, time and time again, the value of our dedication and
hard work.
The part of my job that I love the most is when I talk with people whose lives have
been changed in so many different ways because of what we do. For people around
the world, we make a difference every day. We are part of the positive changes
taking place because of an idea taking flight more than 35 years ago.
- Jeff Clawson, M.D.
Academy Membership
 61,665 members
o 2,650 in U.S.
o 129 in Canada
o 39 in U.K.
o 23 in China
o 11 in Australia, Italy, Netherlands,
 2,559 Medical agencies
 540 Fire agencies
 331 Police agencies
 46 Countries represented
 19,477 new certifications in 2015
 23,167 recertifications in 2015
IAED-certified members rely on the Priority Dispatch® Protocols to help them in
their dispatching efforts. These protocols provide step-by-step instructions to
callers in medical, police, and fire emergencies. Members acknowledge that these
protocols are integral in making their jobs easier and help save lives.
[callout quote]
“[The] protocols gave me this marvelous opportunity to provide lifesaving
instructions to callers over the phone. I still feel very proud today to say I train staff
to use the protocols to enable them to make a difference to people's lives every day.”
- Alison Brown, Yorkshire, U.K.

2. “The Academy’s protocol has assisted my agency with consistency and has also
assured the citizens they will receive the most accurate and updated instructions in
their time of need.“
- T.J. Earhart, Communications Supervisor, The Woodlands Fire Department,
Montgomery (Ala.) Fire Dispatch
Instructors andMembers
The IAED is committed to providing outstanding instruction to emergency dispatch
professionals to help them become certified and proficient in their work. More than
1,000 Academy instructors travel around the world on their own time to perform
this responsibility. Many of these instructors lead classes on their personal time.
Here is a breakdown of IAED instructors and certified dispatchers in various
disciplines:
Emergency Telecommunicator
Certified ETCs 10,197
Certified ETCInstructors 669
Emergency Medical Dispatcher
Certified Advanced EMDs 55,502
Certified EMDInstructors
Certified EMDMentors
Certified EMDMentor Instructors
191
298
3
Certified EMD-Qs 5,361
Certified EMD-QInstructors 60
Emergency Fire Dispatcher
Certified EFDs 13,606
Certified EFDInstructors 56
Certified EFD-Qs 1,255
Certified EFD-QInstructors 29
Emergency Police Dispatcher
Certified EPDs 7,561
Certified EPDInstructors 39
Certified EPD-Qs 681
Certified EPD-QInstructors 16
EmergencyCommunicationNurse
Certified ECNs 44
Certified ECNInstructors 3
Certified ECN-Qs 11
Certified ECN-QInstructors 1

3. In Their Words
“I enjoy passing on my experiences to other people, knowing that they are gaining
knowledge and experience themselves and they will use that experience in ensuring
others improve in their own work.”
- James Gummett, EMD instructor
“I love to travel all over and hear agencies speak proudly of their centers,
accomplishments, and goals for the future. The commonality among every place I
visit is the desire to serve and protect the public. They take their jobs seriously and
want to learn how to be better telecommunicators, managers, auditors, etc.
- Tammy Jewell, ED-Q instructor,
“I have an opportunity to continually improve the standards and feedback process
for emergency calltakers of all types from all over the world. It’s time-consuming,
labor-intensive, and voluntary, but I love every second of it.”
- Michael Spath, Chair of the Q Council of Standards
“I have developed deep and lasting friendships from my travels all over North
America and in the U.K. teaching classes. I am blessed to hear the experiences of so
many communication center staff and all the amazing things they do. They are
seriously superheroes!”
- Kimberly Rigden-Briscall
Member Services
The IAED Member Services team is the organization’s advocate for members. This
group handles all certifications and recertifications, both in the United States and
internationally. It also processes and hand-grades every Continuing Dispatch
Education (CDE) quiz that members take and submit. Communication center staff
members are required to recertify every two years. CDE quizzes and certification
courses are required for certification and recertification.
By the Numbers
 Number of certification courses: 16,585
 Number of recertification courses: 19,901
 Number of CDE quizzes received and graded: 16,993
Call Handling
 About 80 million calls a year using the MDPS, FPDS, and PPDS

4. Priority Dispatch Protocols
What happens when a new version of the protocol comes out? How do changes get
made? Why does the Academy make certain decisions about changing the protocols
and not others? A lot of it comes down to you—the protocol users. The rest is up to
the Councils of Standards, volunteer expert readers, and researchers. Generally, the
process looks like this:
The most important step, though, is one that’s not on this list—it’s where we go back
to No. 1 and start all over again. This is a never-ending process of improvement and
innovation, with users providing feedback, panels of experts weighing the evidence,
and researchers from around the world providing new information to back up the
changes.

5. The protocols reflect the Standard of Care and Practice for Emergency Dispatching;
we don’t make changes lightly. But we do allow the protocols to evolve, based on
evidence, expert experience, and the input of users around the world.
Protocol Usage
 Available in 21 languages, with four in progress as of July 1, 2016
(Georgian, Indonesian, Urdu, Russian)
Countries using the protocol
Africa, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Barbados, Botswana,
Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Channel Islands, Chili, China, Costa Rica, England, France,
Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guam, Guernsey, India, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy,
Japan, Jersey, Kuwait, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand,
Northern Ireland, Pakistan, Panama, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,
Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab
Emirates, United States, Venezuela, Vietnam, Virgin Islands (U.S.), Wales, and
West Indies
IAED Research
Since 2007, the Academy has conducted peer-reviewed evidence-based research
studies and published in refereed scientific journals worldwide. Since then, 42
manuscripts have been published for medical, police, and fire disciplines.
These studies cover emergency medical dispatch, emergency police dispatch,
emergency fire dispatch, and the emergency communications nurse system.
QUALITY ASSURANCE
The IAED Quality Improvement process is an established and proven method that
enables emergency call centers to achieve and maintain the highest standards of
emergency calltaking performance. For IAED protocol users, quality improvement is
treated as a specialized professional skill, practiced by selected persons within an
agency who are trained and certified as Emergency Dispatch Quality (ED-Q)
specialists, after completing a 16-hour IAED course.
Once certified, the ED-Q’s responsibilities include:
 Reviewing randomly selected case audios, and measuring individual case
performance in an objective, consistent manner
 Providing timely performance feedback to the individual dispatcher

6.  Tracking both individual protocol compliance and agency-wide compliance
over time
 Generating and distributing monthly and quarterly compliance reports that
are used to achieve and maintain high performance levels
 Working with the entire quality improvement team and other administrative
staff to achieve and maintain IAED designation as an Accredited Center of
Excellence (ACE).
IAED Accreditation is a “best practices” designation given to centers that have
applied for and passed a rigorous evaluation of their quality improvement process,
known as the 20 Points of Accreditation audit. The ACE process must be completed
every three years in order for a center to maintain its accreditation credential. The
IAED Board of Accreditation is tasked with oversight of the accreditation standards
and evaluation process.
Publications
The Journal
Published every two months, the Journal focuses on current issues in the emergency
response industry. Popular articles include expert advice from professionals and
stories focusing on individual dispatchers and communication centers from around
the world. This publication is sent to all IAED members and communication centers
that use the Priority Dispatch System™. The Journal also has a recently updated
website, http://iaedjournal.org.
QTips
Published quarterly, QTips is sent to quality assurance specialists at communication
centers around the United States. This newsletter also contains CDE articles as well
as expert advice from experienced ED-Qs on how colleagues in the industry can
motivate staff to improve calltaking quality.
Instructor Outlook
The Instructor Outlook is sent to all IAED-certified instructors. The content consists
of articles from the Chairs of all the Curriculum Boards that provide teaching tips, as
well as protocol update announcements and other general information for
instructors.
Annals of Emergency Dispatch & Response
AEDR welcomes research submissions on topics relating to emergency medical, fire,
and police dispatching and response, pre-arrival care, and public health and safety.

7. PUBLIC OUTREACH
The Academy has maintained an active presence on Facebook since April 2013 and
on Twitter since April 2014. We also have a loyal following on LinkedIn. On these
platforms, we keep our members informed on organization updates, emergency
dispatch trends and news, as well as other relevant and interesting topics from the
industry. Our social media efforts have also successfully engaged members and
helped created unity and camaraderie.
Social Media Data (as of July 31, 2016):
 IAED Facebook page likes: 3,000
 IAED Facebook page likes last 12 months: More than 1,600
 IAED Twitter followers: 786
 IAED Twitter Impressions: 9,345
 LinkedIn followers: 586
NAVIGATOR
NAVIGATOR is the biggest event of the year for the IAED. Held annually in the
United States, United Kingdom, Australasia, Ireland, Middle East, China, Europe and
Asia, is a time for emergency response professionals from around the world to
gather to share ideas and learn from one another as well as socialize and celebrate
together. NAVIGATOR includes workshops on key emergency response topics,
awards to exemplary individuals in the field, and festivities to commemorate the
achievements of the past year.
NAVIGATOR Facts and Figures
 Takes place each year in the U.S. Past NAVIGATOR events have been held in
the following locations (registered attendees in parentheses):
 2016 — Washington, D.C. (1,633)
 2015 — Las Vegas, Nevada (1,698)
 2014 — Orlando, Florida (1,472)
 2013 — Salt Lake City, Utah (1,456)
 2012 — Baltimore, Maryland (1,458)
 2011 — Las Vegas, Nevada (1,333)
 2010 — Orlando, Florida (1,289)
 2009 — Las Vegas, Nevada (1,148)
 2008 — Baltimore, Maryland (1,252)
 2007 — Las Vegas, Nevada (1,202)
 2006 — Orlando, Florida (1,033)

8.  Held in the following international locations this past year (number of
registrants in parentheses):
 Euro NAVIGATOR, Leiden, Netherlands, Sept. 2015 (180)
 UK NAVIGATOR, Bristol, England, Sept. 2015 (110)
 China NAVIGATOR, Qingdao, China, Oct. 2015 (300)
 Australasia NAVIGATOR, Melbourne, Australia, November 2015 (110)
 Middle East NAVIGATOR, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, January 2016
(90_
 Asia NAVIGATOR, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Feb. 2016 (275)
 Ireland NAVIGATOR, Dublin, Ireland (not held during past year)
NAVIGATOR 2016, Washington, D.C.
NAVIGATOR 2016 worked its energizing magic in the nation’s capital, drawing
emergency dispatch professionals to 115 sessions in 13 tracks, featuring 148
speakers. The conference truly hit the bull’s-eye of this year’s theme, “A Time for
Greatness,” embodied by the sessions packing in more than 100 attendees.
What Members Tell Us
Here’s what some attendees have said about their experiences at recent events and
why the love their profession.
2016
Jan Goswick
Assistant Director/EMD
Alleghan County Emergency Communication Center, Mich., USA
“We’re a very unique community. It’s great that we get to help people, but the bonds
we build within dispatch are something that you could never replace.”
2015
Jean Francois Poulin
d'Urgences-santé de la région de Montréal Métropolitain, Canada
“I like to find solutions that can help others with the same issue. There is a
confidence in using a process with so much proven background, and at NAVIGATOR
it’s a celebration of this.”
2014
Holli Jordan
Lee County Public Safety, Fort Myers, Fla., USA
“Every time you answer the phone, you don’t know what’s going to happen. And on
top of that, we get to help people. How many others can say that about their jobs?”
Awards

9. Along with training, teaching, and networking, recognition is a vital part of each
NAVIGATOR. Attendees join in to celebrate the achievements of fellow professionals
through the following awards:
Dispatcher of the Year
EMD Letisha Ghanbari with General Motors’ OnStar, was the most recent winner of
this award. It is presented each year to an IAED-certified emergency dispatcher who
has most successfully exemplified the values and mission of the Academies and who
demonstrates compliance to protocol, teamwork, and initiative to further
professionalism and education, and ability to function well under stress.
Dr. Jeff Clawson Leadership Award
The Jeff Clawson Leadership Award is given to an individual who has made a
significant contribution to the emergency dispatch profession; someone who
exhibits courage and determination in the face of adversity; someone who
represents the highest standards and pursuit of excellence in research, education,
management, or operations; and someone who by example has inspired others to
become the best that they can be. Joseph Ornato, M.D, of Virginia Commonwealth
University in Richmond, Va., won the award in 2016.
Instructor of the Year
The Instructor of the Year award is given annually to the IAED-certified instructor
who has been instrumental in helping the spread of protocol usage around the
world. The 2016 Instructor of the Year was John Lofgren.
ACE
Accredited Centers of Excellence share a common goal of improving public care and
maximizing the efficiency of 911 systems. The International Academies of
Emergency Dispatch, through its College of Fellows, has established a high standard
of excellence for emergency dispatch, providing the tools to achieve this high
standard at both the dispatcher level through certification, and at the
communication center level through the Accreditation Program.
ACE Facts
 Number of Medical ACEs: 147
 Number of Fire ACEs: 31
 Number of Police ACEs: 6

10.  Number of ECNS ACEs: 1
 Number of ACEs in Medical, Fire, and Police (Tri ACE): 4
o Boone County Joint Communications, Columbia, Mo.
o Harford County Department of Emergency Services, Forest Hill,
Md.
o Johnson County E-9-1-1 Communications, Smithfield, N.C.
o Prince George’s Country Public Safety Communications, Bowie,
Md.
 Number of new ACEs (January–July 2016): 34
 Number of re-ACEs (January–July 2016): 8
IAED Timeline
1975: Doctor Clawson discovers the value of protocols while working at Charity
Hospital in New Orleans
1978: First working dispatch protocol prototype introduced into the Alarm Office of
the SLC Fire Dept. for review
1979: First EMD certification course
1979: First on-line implementation of the protocols
1981: Journal of Emergency Medical Services publishes article on “priority medical
dispatch,” leading hundreds of agencies to request the MPDS
December 1, 1988: National Academy of Emergency Medical Dispatch® launched
1989: Birth of the Pre-Arrival Instruction Grid (“panel logic”)
1999: First EMD Advancement Series lesson distributed
2000: FPDS introduced
2000: IAEMD “pluralized” and expanded to include Fire and Police dispatching, now
called the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch
2001: PPDS introduced
2011: Emergency Communication Nurse System (ECNS) becomes part of IAED
2016: College of Emergency Dispatch launched
Our Thanks Goes to You
At the IAED, we recognize that our work alone would not be enough to achieve our
goals and objectives. We appreciate the support of volunteers and member agencies
whose dedication to public safety truly saves lives. We urge you to continue
contributing to our cause through your efforts.