What is a d-card or decard number??

[Ray_Air]

I hear White lake Police asking dispatch for a d-card(?) number. It will go something like this "all units 97 and decard" or "dispatch can I get that decard number again?"
What does d-card(?) or decard(?) mean? Paramed used to use this term a lot also, but they are gone and I dont listen to AMR or much ambulance comms.

[n9upc]

Sounds like they are asking for the dispatch card/code for EMD, Police, and Fire Calls. The NAEMD (National Assoc of Emergency Medical Dispatchers) has what is called EMD cards.

They are a sent of cards ranging from card # 0 - # 33 which each card being a Chief Complaint. Example Chest Pain maybe card # 10, so if a caller would have chest pain they would read the questions off of card # 10.

Now by asking very specific questions of the caller (regardless if they are the Pt or not) they get a response code such as Omega, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo. Omega is a basically a taxi that is an ambulance, and an Echo is usually a full blown cardiac arrest.

Now in addition to the card #, and response code you get a modifier number also. So lets say they are having chest pain with difficulty breathing then it would be card # 10, Charlie, specific symptom # 1. So it would be aired as a 10 - C - 1 or 10 Charlie 1.

Therefore, all I would have to do as a dispatcher is page the ambulance with the address and that it was a 10 Chalire 1 and then the ambulance would know what the call is and how to respond.

Now in addition to making these cards for EMS usage they also make them for Fire and Police usage.

Therefore, when I think they say D-Card could mean dispatch card. A lot of newer squad software has a spot to put in a dispatch code for the call they are responding to.

Hope this helps!

[FNNM376]

Negtive... When they ask for dispatch to punch at card or (D-Card) he is asking for a run to be put into the system or might ask for the D-card number or complaint number... So what they mean is he wants a run made or needs the incident number for a run.....

[Flintstone4680]

are they universal for all ambulance companies? if so what does each mean? DVA uses them and I tried to figure out what they meant but it seemed impossible because theres so many.

[dtravers]

Hi Folks
FNNM376 Is right, If your listining to any public safety service in Michigan the D (dispatch)
Card is simply a run number. They are the year as a prefix 00 numerical date 001 JAN 1st through 365 Dec 31 as the first three digits
Followed by the daily or yearly run number starting at 001 at midnight daily or midnight Jan 1st Yearly.
So a DFD EMS D CARD on December 31 2007 may read as D Card 07365248 (07-365-248)
Most often crews are just given the run number, thats all you need because you know the date. So for monitoring if you hear a service give a run number of 283 and it's July, you can be sure they count daily. Police most often count yearly, skipping the date so the
D Card maybe 07-28346 making this the twenty eight thousand three hundred and fourty sixth call for the year.
The D Card goes back to the days when calls were dispatched using time cards with all the
run info hand written on them and punched using a time clock for each movement ( Dispatch / on Scene / Clear etc ). You may still hear some of us old guys ask the dispatcher to "punch a card" or "I'll need a ticket" thats all were asking for is the dispatcher
enter the information in the CAD and generate that ever important number the""D CARD""

[KB8QDM]

Everyone is correct on what a D card is. Although computerized now, it's all of the information for the call, and the assigned case/complaint/incident number.

By the way, Paramed became AMR, who ran it into the ground for 13 years, then decided that they'd done enough damage to the metro Detroit ambulance market and bailed out. They've been gone since Jan 1.

But I'm not at all bitter about my former employer or anything