July 15, 2026 | Henry C. Senturia
8 minute read
What if you could start a video call directly with emergency dispatch and first responders after dialing 911, to show them what’s happening at the scene?
In the last few years, this idea has increased in popularity, seeing testing and rollout in cities around the world. The core concept driving the implementation of video calls in emergency response is information. Video calls give dispatch and first responders more information about an ongoing emergency, and they do it faster than a traditional call does. The National Emergency Number Association estimates that Americans make 240 million calls to 911 every year—which underlines that enhancing the emergency response process will make a massive positive impact.
911 dispatchers have an incredibly difficult job—they’re tasked with calming down a caller enough to get their location and critical information about the emergency. According to one 911 call taker, calming down a caller enough to get actionable information from them can sometimes take several minutes during a critical time window where every minute matters. Even just relaying key information like exact location, and in the case of medical emergencies, patient status, can take minutes when using only audio calls.
The use of video helps dispatchers overcome common audio communication roadblocks that come up in emergency response, like a language barrier or stress-induced miscommunication. With the caller’s consent, a live video connection directly to a dispatcher’s workstation can both enrich and speed up the data collecting process, allowing for a much faster reduction in the information gap between the caller and the dispatch center.
In addition to the information gap between dispatchers and callers, there is also often an information gap between dispatchers and first responders. For example, a study of Swedish ambulance services found that 34% of patients who were assigned an ambulance by dispatch did not need the ambulance service according to the assessment of the responders at the scene.
Video calling helps reduce this information gap by providing enhanced situational awareness for first responders in several ways:
Video communication improves the efficiency of emergency response, as well. Efficient allocation of emergency response resources is important to avoid delays in care for patients in time-critical condition and to minimize over-triage, which increases demand on limited ambulance capacity and overcrowds emergency departments.
In a study performed by Copenhagen Emergency Medical Services, dispatchers’ assessment of a patient’s condition changed in 51.1% of emergency calls with video (marking their condition more critical in 12.9% of calls and less critical in 38.2% of calls), resulting in changed emergency response in 27.5% of cases. This change in emergency response indicates that the additional information provided by video allowed dispatchers to provide a more precise emergency response in those situations.
Remote first aid guidance is fairly common in emergency response, making it a good target for improved effectiveness—think of a dispatcher taking a caller through the steps to perform CPR. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), between 33-50% of 911 centers provide pre-arrival medical instructions to callers to provide care while waiting for EMS to arrive.
Video calling proves useful for enhancing remote first aid guidance—CPR and other first aid can be instructed more effectively when dispatchers are able to watch the caller perform the instructed task and correct them as needed. For example, dispatchers can visually monitor CPR application to ensure the correct compression depth and rate while a caller is performing chest compressions on a patient, check for correct hand placement, and verify full chest recoil in the patient. Here, video calling provides a new dimension of communication that enables a richer exchange of information.
Video calling enhances emergency response by giving dispatchers and first responders more information about an incident. The additional information provided by a live video connection improves the precision, efficiency, and safety of emergency response. Remote first aid guidance provided by dispatch or first responders also benefits from video calling, which enables dispatchers to monitor whether their instructions to a caller are being performed correctly. While a very helpful tool for dispatchers, video calling is not suitable for all emergency situations—it complements traditional audio calling, rather than replacing it. Think of it as another tool in the toolbox for emergency response professionals to use.
One good way for governments to implement video calling into their emergency response system is by adding it to an existing emergency reporting app for citizens to download onto their smartphones. Deltapath Mobile SDK makes this easy—it’s a purpose-built toolkit that gives you the power to integrate high-quality audio and video calling into your mobile application.
Visit our website today to learn more about how Deltapath UC is powering better workflow for organizations of all kinds.
