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Wake County EMS outlines four-tier telephone-triage plan to prioritize life-threatening calls
Summary
Wake County EMS told Garner council it will phase in evidence-based telephone triage (E1'E4) this spring to prioritize the sickest patients, expand nurse-navigation and reduce nonessential lights-and-sirens while measuring effects on response times and outcomes.
Jeff Williams, interim medical director for Wake County EMS, told the Garner Town Council on Feb. 3 that rapid population growth and rising 911 volumes require a new approach to dispatching.
Williams said Wake County now averages roughly 400 EMS calls a day and expects about 150,000 calls in 2026. To direct resources to the most time-sensitive emergencies, staff propose a four-level telephone-triage response plan labeled E1 through E4. "If you treat everything like an emergency, it's hard for anything to be an emergency," Williams said, arguing a prioritization system will get life-saving care to the sickest patients first.
Under the proposal, E1…
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