The Disposition section on the Incident tab captures how the call ended overall. Five fields make up the disposition, and together they tell the story: did your unit transport or not, did the patient get treatment, did the crew do anything, and if the patient refused, why.
The fields
- Unit Disposition — what your unit did on this call. Options include patient contact made, no patient contact, canceled, no patient found, and mutual aid.
- Patient Evaluation/Care — what the patient got. Options include patient evaluated and treated, evaluated and refused care, not evaluated, deceased on arrival, and refused evaluation.
- Crew Disposition — what your crew did with the patient. Options include initiated and continued care, initiated and transferred care, canceled en route, no patient contact.
- Transport Disposition — whether the patient was transported. Options include transport by this EMS unit, transport by another EMS unit, transport by private vehicle, no transport, patient refused transport.
- Reason for Refusal/Release — multi-select. Fill in every reason that applies if the patient refused care or transport.
When this matters most
Refusals are the highest-risk dispositions from a liability standpoint. If the patient refused, pick every Reason for Refusal/Release that applies and document the full capacity assessment in the narrative. This is the data that protects your crew and your agency if the refusal turns into a bad outcome.
An example
You respond to a fall. The patient is alert, oriented, and refuses transport after you assess them. In the Disposition section: Unit Disposition Patient Contact Made, Patient Evaluation/Care Evaluated, Refused Care, Crew Disposition Initiated and Transferred Care, Transport Disposition Patient Refused Transport, Reason for Refusal/Release checks Patient Alert and Oriented and Patient Signed Refusal Form.