Emergency Medical Dispatch

The Alabama 9-1-1 Board and the Office of EMS formed a partnership in the fall of 2017 to take proactive steps to save more lives.  They created a comprehensive, low cost training for fast and effective dispatching of medical emergencies.  The result was the Alabama Emergency Medical Dispatcher Guidebook, which will be used in conjunction with the Alabama Emergency Medical Dispatcher (EMD) Course; both of which are in compliance with the 2019 Alabama EMS Rules, which requires all medically related calls to be processed by a certified EMD.

The Alabama 9-1-1 Board offers the Alabama EMD certification course in an effort to ensure all services have an opportunity to remain compliant with the new EMS Rules.  This certification is free of charge.  Only travel, food, and/or lodging costs would be incurred by the trainee.

The Alabama Emergency Medical Dispatcher Guidebook is available in both PDF and paper versions.  If your service needs to train employees to be EMD certified, please contact the OEMS or the Alabama 9-1-1 Board for more information.

Other acceptable commercial EMD Programs that may be utilized in the State of Alabama are listed below.

• APCO International
• International Academies of Emergency Dispatch
• Priority Dispatch
• National Emergency Communications Institute
• PowerPhone