A system and method to assist an emergency medical dispatcher in responding to emergency calls. A computer implemented emergency medical dispatch protocol includes interrogatories for a dispatcher to ask a caller to generate an appropriate response. A diagnostic tool is provided to aid the dispatcher in gathering symptom information for a patient who may be suffering from a pandemic illness, such as a severe respiratory infection like influenza. The diagnostic tool facilitates uniform and consistent gathering of symptom information relating to a pandemic outbreak. The information may be stored and/or processed for use in monitoring and/or tracking pandemic outbreaks. The diagnostic tool can be launched automatically by the emergency dispatch protocol, or manually by a dispatcher. The diagnostic tool presents a user interface that provides, among other things, instructions, symptoms, and input fields.