Temple Transport Team’s Comprehensive Communications Center serves as a dispatch hub for our ground and air division, as well as a system-wide Transfer Center for Temple University Hospital and Temple University Hospital – Jeanes Campus. Established in February 2011, the Communications Center has grown from processing direct admission and transfer requests to providing numerous other emergent communications functions for Temple Health, including:
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Activation and mobilization of the cardiovascular OR team for emergent cases
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Activation and mobilization of the cardiac catheterization lab during off-hours
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Helipad traffic monitoring and direction
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Bed control for the Cardiac Pavilion Unit at the Temple Heart & Vascular Institute
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Out of system to TUH STEMI alerts
Other urgent and routine functions include:
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Direct admission requests to Temple University Hospital
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Urgent and emergent transfer requests from outside hospitals to Temple University Hospital
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Temple OnCall
Transfer Center Staff
T3’s Transfer Center is staffed by mission support coordinators, paramedics and emergency medical technicians who are experienced – both clinically and administratively – in processing urgent, emergent and non-emergent requests for patient transfers. The two levels of Transfer Center coordinators – mission support coordinator and senior mission support coordinator – are determined by level of clinical certification. Each position has different responsibilities and plays a key role in how patients come to Temple Health.
Today, the Transfer Center now serves nearly 1,500 hospital beds, processing more than 80,000 transfer requests and answering nearly 150,000 phone calls per year.