Katherine Waser knows that the City of Philadelphia's 911 system is strained due to the volume of calls that operators receive on a routine basis. Yet, many of those calls are not true emergencies, unless you consider asking for rescheduled garbage pick-up times an emergency. However, Katherine believes that the city's new 311 information hotline can help relieve the stress and improve response time for true medical emergencies.
Katherine, a second-year student at the Drexel University School of Public Health, is leading a Community-based Research Project entitled "The Examination of the Establishment of the Non-Urgent Emergency Number in Philadelphia to Reduce the Overutilization of the 911 Emergency Medical Services System." As part of the research, she is analyzing ten cities across the country that are similar in size to Philadelphia and have 311 systems to see how the non-emergency number has impacted response times to emergency medical 911 calls. It is first-of-its-kind research.
"There is not any consistent, national data on how 311 numbers impact the actual response times of ambulances and EMS teams to 911 medical emergency calls," said Katherine. "The response to 911 calls is critical to the sustainability of hospitals and EMS crews in the future.
"While our research is not yet complete, we believe that 311 calls do help relieve overuse of 911, and the response times to medical emergencies are improved by relieving pressure from the 911 operators. However, just having the number does not guarantee that it will reduce the number of non-emergency medical calls that emergency medical services must respond to preventing the EMS system from functioning at the most efficient level," said Katherine. "The 311 call centers need to be supported by a social outreach program that raises awareness of its existence and purpose with all residents and communities."
Katherine was raised outside of Chicago, and worked at a hospital near her home. At the hospital, she was able to witness how policy impacts healthcare delivery. She attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and graduated with a degree in molecular and cellular biology.
While Katherine initially wanted to pursue a medical career, her experience with hospital policies, public health and emergency medical services has convinced her that she would like to work for a government agency or nonprofit organization that works to help improve the nation's health care-related systems.
For more profiles of students "living" public health at Drexel University, please visit the main Student Profiles page.