Merging Duplicate Incidents

Sometimes one call ends up as two incidents. The most common case: a crew starts an incident on scene to record patient care, and the dispatch record for the same call arrives later as a second incident. One has your narrative and patients; the other has the CAD number and the dispatch times.

Merging folds the two into one incident. Nothing has to be typed again.

Before You Start

• You need permission to archive incidents, and you must be able to edit both incidents. If you don't see the merge option, ask a department admin.
• Neither incident can be approved or locked. Return it for changes first.
• Save or cancel any edits you have open on the incident. The merge works from the saved record, so the option is unavailable while the form has unsaved changes.
• Make sure the two incidents really are the same call. Two calls at one address, or a second dispatch to the same place later in the day, are separate incidents and should stay that way.

A merge cannot be undone. One incident is kept and the other is archived. Links to the archived incident open the one that was kept.

Start a Merge

1. Open either of the two incidents.
2. Open the three-dot More actions menu at the top right.
3. Select Merge with another incident.

When the incident tells you first

If an incident closely matches another one in both time and place, a notice appears at the top of the incident: This looks like the same call as another incident, followed by the other incident's nature of call, address, time, and CAD number if it has one. It shows on both incidents of the pair.

• Select Review merge to open the merge with that incident already chosen.
• Select Not the same call if they are separate calls. The notice stays hidden for that pair on the device you're using.

The notice only appears for people who are able to merge the incident, and only for strong matches. Looser matches are still listed when you start a merge yourself.

Choose the Other Incident

The dialog lists Similar incidents: incidents close to this one in time and place. Each shows why it was suggested, such as "Close in time", "Same address", or "One entered by hand, one from CAD".

Select the incident that describes the same call. If it isn't listed, use Search for another incident to find it by address, CAD number, or nature of call.

Then select Review merge. This only prepares the review. Nothing is merged yet.

Review What Will Happen

The review states what the merge will do. By default the incident you started from is kept and the other is archived. Select Keep the other one instead to swap them.

• Added from the duplicate — details only the other incident has, such as the CAD incident number, dispatch times, or a unit CAD recorded.
• Kept as entered — where the two incidents differ and one value was entered by a member while the other came from CAD, the member's entry is kept. If a time you entered by hand differs from the time CAD recorded, the review points it out so you can correct it after merging if CAD is right.
• Combined from both — lists that both incidents hold are combined with duplicates removed, and nothing is dropped. If two members each wrote a narrative, both are kept, one after the other.
• Moving to the incident kept — patients, call-credit excusals, a fire investigation, and report requests attached to the other incident move across.

When you're satisfied, select Merge Incidents.

When Two Members Entered Different Things

If two members each recorded the same detail differently, the merge doesn't guess. Under Which is right? you'll see each difference with both values side by side. Select the correct one for each, then merge.

This covers details such as the nature of call, times, the address, the incident commander, responding stations, the incident type, and who was on which unit. Units and crew are shown by name, so you are choosing between "Engine 1 — Smith" and "Engine 1 — Jones", not between two counts.

When the Merge Needs Support

Some pairs are too tangled to settle with a few clicks: many differences between two members' reports, differences inside a detail section such as fire or hazardous materials details, or one report listing actions taken while the other says no action was taken.

In those cases the dialog shows This one needs a hand from support along with what the two incidents disagree on. Tell us which details are right under What should we know? and select Send to support. We'll be in touch to get the incidents merged. Both incidents stay exactly as they are in the meantime.

What Can't Be Merged

The review explains why and what to do when a pair can't be merged as it stands:

• Different CAD incident numbers. Two numbers normally mean two separate calls. If one number is wrong, clear it and try again.
• An incident already in review, approved, or locked. An incident that has been submitted for review must be the one that is kept. Approved and locked incidents have to be returned for changes first.
• An incident reported to NERIS. Keep that incident and merge the other one into it.
• Clashing call-credit excusals. If a member is excused on one incident and listed as a responder on the other, or excused on both for different reasons, fix that on the incidents first.

After the Merge

• The kept incident now carries the CAD number, so later dispatch updates for that call go to it.
• The archived incident no longer appears in your incident list. Opening an old link to it takes you to the kept incident.
• The Activity Log records the merge on both incidents.

Avoiding Duplicates in the First Place

If your CAD integration is set up and you already know the CAD incident number while on scene, enter it in External Incident ID on the incident's Basic Info tab. When the dispatch record arrives with that number, it updates your incident instead of creating a second one. See Set Up CAD Email Integration.

Frequently Asked Questions