Régulation médicale des appels de santé

There are many challenges associated with organizing emergency care. The 15 center plays a key role in ensuring an adequate response, either through the SAMU (emergency medical service) or the SAS (healthcare access service), whether for urgent or unscheduled care. The purpose of regulating healthcare calls is to assess and direct patients in order to provide the most appropriate care. Its role is to ensure that each call is handled quickly, thoroughly, and expertly, while optimizing the use of available resources. Health call regulation has long been absent from SFMU publications, even though it is one of the pillars of the healthcare system, particularly emergency medical services. With its functions now expanded in France with the SAS, it was essential to respond to the demand from professionals involved, whether in post or in training, so that they have a reference resource on these activities.

Through a modern analysis of the processes, tools, and challenges of dispatch, the authors offer a better understanding of its complexity and provide essential information on:

• the functioning and professions of dispatch;
• quality and risk management;
• training in medical regulation;
• its organization and technical resources, including the most modern ones;
• specific aspects of regulation by grounds for appeal and channels;
• the prospects for this crucial mission.

This book, the result of a collective effort, aims to contribute to the reflection on current and future practices in medical regulation by promoting collaboration between different professionals. It is an invitation to rethink the way we ensure access to emergency care. It is intended for staff (particularly medical dispatch assistants, paramedics, and SMUR nurses), emergency physicians, and interns who wish to deepen their knowledge and improve their practices, but also for those interested in the evolution of the function of regulating calls and requests for care in the healthcare system.