Medical Priority Dispatch System

The Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) is a way of categorizing and prioritizing EMS incidents. The MPDS assigns a number-letter-number format code to each type of incident. The first number (one of the numbers 1 through 32) indicates the category of the incident (e.g., breathing problem). The letter (one of the letters A through E) indicates the priority of the incident. Letter "A" indicates the lowest priority incident and "E" indicates the highest priority incident, however not all letters are used within each category. The second number indicates the subcategory of the incident. The MPDS codes are also commonly referred to as "Clawson Codes" because the MPDS categorization system was originally designed by Dr. Jeff J. Clawson.