A system and method to assist an emergency medical dispatcher in responding to emergency calls is disclosed. A computer-implemented emergency dispatch protocol is provided that includes interrogatories for a dispatcher to ask a caller to generate an appropriate response. A diagnostic tool is provided to aid a dispatcher in calculating a burn surface area of a patient. The diagnostic tool calculates the burn surface area based on caller relayed information about the areas of the patient's body that are burned. The burn calculation may be based on the Rule of Nines methodology. The diagnostic tool can be launched automatically by the emergency dispatch protocol, or manually as desired by a dispatcher. The diagnostic tool presents a user interface that may provide, among other things, instructions, a visual portrayal of the human body, and input fields.
