# In case you haven't figured it out....



## armywifeemt (Apr 25, 2012)

I really can't stand dispatchers. At least most of them... Our dispatchers dispatch out of Michigan and we are in Ohio, and recently the one dispatcher we have that I actually kind of like apparently asked my supervisor what I looked like.... So if my supervisor *actually* did tell him I looked like a playboy centerfold, I'll probably continue to like him until one of us leaves the company...

But, I digress... I really can't stand dispatchers and that doesn't even come close to describing the pure hatred my partner has for them. There is one dispatcher for a company I will leave unnamed (not the one I currently work for though!) that, if anyone were to ever kill, my partner has said he would sell his house to pay the legal fees for their defense. 

We have a chronic issue with contacting our dispatchers... we will mark, and they will either never answer, or they will tell us to "stand by" and never clear us for further radio contact. Even when they do answer, and copy our traffic, they may or may not actually remember what we told them ten minutes later... My partner frequently speaks of the fact that a person in a chronic vegetative state who is able to breathe on their own has an IQ of at least 28, and the combined IQ of all dispatchers everywhere is 3. 

Anyway... my last shift, my partner and I were discussing a conversation he had with a supervisor after - for ease of explanation, we will call them "Crew 1" - walked into the main station in the middle of a shift. We almost never get sent to the main station because most of our runs are about an hour away, and we're almost always posted somewhere in our high traffic areas. The supervisor asked if dispatch knew where "Crew 1" was, and my partner answered, "No." The supervisor started to get flustered then my partner went on to explain,"We marked ourselves at station one about 10 minutes ago, but they are dispatch, so of course they have no idea where we are." The individual he was partnered with that day then came in and independently corroborated the fact that they had, indeed, marked themselves at station 1 ten minutes prior. My partner suggested the supervisor call dispatch and ask if they knew where "Crew 1" was, and the supervisor, out of a sort of morbid curiosity, I am sure, indulged. He asked dispatch where "Crew 1" was, and dispatch asked him to stand by... then, over the nextel my partner had in his hand, dispatch asked, "Crew 1, what is your location"  My partner replied, "Station 1, where we told you we were ten minutes ago." Dispatch answered, "Oh, okay." then proceeded to tell the supervisor that "Crew 1" was at Station 1. 

The entire time my partner is telling this story, I am alternating between nodding and laughing. Shortly thereafter we are paged out on what turned out to be our last run of the day. 

When we were clear of the run, we marked ourselves with dispatch. Dispatch copied. I reminded them that we were scheduled to be off in half an hour, and had an hour commute back to Station 1. Our SUPERVISOR (we operate on a group direct connect line) came over and joked with me that he was sure they knew when we were supposed to be off. So.. I know we were heard. Dispatch never contacted us further. We cleared to Station 1. We got gas. We washed our truck. We made our cot. We cleaned the inside of the ambulance... all of this time, the nextel was within hearing range. We clocked out an hour late... I got home roughly 15 minutes later. As I am walking through the door to my house, I get a page to call dispatch. I called. They asked.... "Where are you guys?" 


I about died laughing.. which was a little confusing for him, since he hadnt been party to my earlier conversation with my partner. Of course then I explained to the poor dispatcher that, having clocked out 15 minutes ago (an hour after the end of my shift), I was at home, about to take off my boots and air out my stinky sweaty feet, then I was going to kick back, relax, and forget that Private EMS existed. 

He laughed nervously, apologized for not having a brain (I'm paraphrasing a little here), then we said our goodbyes and hung up.


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## Medic2409 (Apr 25, 2012)

I agree, well, used to agree anyway.

There were 2 people I really didn't like...not all, but a lot of, dispatchers, and not all, but a lot, of nurses.  By which I mean to say, there were a number of ScaryFrightening dispatchers that were simply put either vindictive, stupid, or lazy.  The few good ones usually got promoted.  The same thing could be said of nurses.

Amazingly enough, my wife was a dispatcher when we met, and is now a nurse.


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## medicdan (Apr 26, 2012)

Is your dispatch recorded? Have you ever worked a shift in dispatch?


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## FourLoko (Apr 26, 2012)

prepare to here from at least one dispatcher about how you don't now how hard there job is and such

in other words, expect thread backfire


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## Veneficus (Apr 26, 2012)

In EMS there is a love hate relationship with dispatch.

The rivalry between the two is immortal. 

But before you go and shoot somebody's windows out, keep in mind, neither of you really know what is going on in the world of the other one.

Dispatchers are usually locked in a cave, where they don't notice things like weather, you don't insert urinary catheters when you log on, you actually do physical work which takes time, you cannot teleport and must actually drive there, and have to eat from time to time.

Most field providers don't realize that dispatchers are asked to do more tasks at one time than most people can commonly do at any level of proficency. Usually with many people, from supervisors to callers making a host of demands. 

Their job also requires them to interact with you. Often by telling you what to do or where to go. (It is sort of like hearing voices that you feel compelled to obey)

The good dispatchers are ones that can balance the demands on them with the limitations of the crews. Many don't get that at all, and think as long as they are proficently doing what they are supposed to then that is the peak of performance.

I have never, nor will ever work in dispatch. I would feel so dirty I would never be able to wash it off.

Welcome to EMS, offer up a curse to dispatch, and just learn to laugh them off. (after you go where the voices tell you of course  )


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## Mountain Res-Q (Apr 26, 2012)

I think everyone is missing an important component of the original post here:



armywifeemt said:


> blah blah blah... recently the one dispatcher we have that I actually kind of like apparently asked my supervisor what I looked like.... blah blah blah... I looked like a playboy centerfold... blah blah blah...



:rofl:

Forgive me... I am a guy... it can not be helped with... at least not without medication or electroshock... :unsure:


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## armywifeemt (Apr 26, 2012)

All im saying is it should be a prerequisite that all dispatchers everywhere work as a server and a pizza delivery driver at some point in their lives. No, ive never worked in dispatch although after roughly 30 years in ems my partner has on an occasion or two... i get that it is demanding, but they have a computer system and gps tracking that they listen to religiously when it is inconvenient to us, but seemingly ignore and/or dont use the rest of the time. I know a thing or two about multi-tasking and resource management and there are only the smallest handful of dispatchers who even come close to doing it right. My partner has actually asked them where our teleporter is and if they could give us directions on how to use it. Furthermore, he has witnessed at least one occasion in which the incompetence of a dispatcher actually killed someone...their job is actually very important, which is why it is so frustrating when they dont do it right.


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## Veneficus (Apr 26, 2012)

armywifeemt said:


> All im saying is it should be a prerequisite that all dispatchers everywhere work as a server and a pizza delivery driver at some point in their lives. No, ive never worked in dispatch although after roughly 30 years in ems my partner has on an occasion or two... i get that it is demanding, but they have a computer system and gps tracking that they listen to religiously when it is inconvenient to us, but seemingly ignore and/or dont use the rest of the time. I know a thing or two about multi-tasking and resource management and there are only the smallest handful of dispatchers who even come close to doing it right. My partner has actually asked them where our teleporter is and if they could give us directions on how to use it. Furthermore, he has witnessed at least one occasion in which the incompetence of a dispatcher actually killed someone...their job is actually very important, which is why it is so frustrating when they dont do it right.



As a non dispatch tainted field provider, you are of course still obligated to give grief to dispatchers


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## armywifeemt (Apr 26, 2012)

Removing accidental repost


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## MochaRaf (Apr 26, 2012)

Mountain Res-Q said:


> I think everyone is missing an important component of the original post here:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I am right there with ya brother, except on my end it looked more like this.



armywifeemt said:


> Blah blah blah... tell him I looked like a playboy centerfold, ...blah blah blah...


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## shfd739 (Apr 26, 2012)

Dispatch is dispatch. Some are better than others- just like medics. They are under a microscope because everything they do wrong is heard, felt or seen by the crews.

I learned real quick not to pick fights with "Headquarters". Scratched their backs a few times and the favor was returned 10 fold.

I dispatched 911 vollie fire/EMS which became paid EMS for 6 years. Some of the funnest days were juggling the EMS channel, keeping a bunch of redneck chop and squirts under control on the fire channel and making phone calls all at once.


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## nicolel3440 (Apr 26, 2012)

Sorry to hear so many people have problems with dispatchers.  In our area we have awsome dispatchers.  They can dispatch the call cover them answer everyone while makeing phone calls for police, and fire to tow trucks, electric providers and so much more.


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## abckidsmom (Apr 26, 2012)

The job I had the most fun at in my whole career was dispatching.  Busy urban system, playing the best video game ever.

Now, I like to gripe and complain about our dispatchers as much as possible.  There is possibly not a stupider group of people on the planet, especially if you judge by the moaning and complaining of the field personnel.


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## armywifeemt (Apr 26, 2012)

I guess the bottom line for me is this... some dispatchers seem to handle things better than others... they they can keep straight where their crews are, how much they are running which crews, they understand when a crew needs food, gas, supplies from station etc etc etc... and people still show up for runs in a timely fashion. Other dispatchers, essentially, turn everything into a cluster:censored::censored::censored::censored:. Why are the ones turning everything into a cluster:censored::censored::censored::censored: still employed? If i screw something up, not just once, but multiple times, i will probably be out on my *** looking for a new job. Are dispatchers that hard to find/train? Im making decisions that could potentially impact someones health and/or well being.... taking calls and managing resources sounds comparatively... well... easy. If the work load is more than any one person can be expected to handle proficiently, hire more dispatchers. Still, what it comes down to in my estimation... if you cant handle the heat, stay the heck out of the fire.

I really didnt mean for this to turn into a serious conversation... i more or less found it hilarious that not even four hours after having a rather amusing conversation about dispatch not having the slightest idea where we are, even after being told, a dispatcher went on to prove the point in perhaps one of the most extreme examples possible...


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## MochaRaf (Apr 26, 2012)

abckidsmom said:


> The job I had the most fun at in my whole career was dispatching.  Busy urban system, playing the best video game ever.



Haha so true! Every time I walked into the Dispatch center the guy was playing video games or watching a movie...


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## Handsome Robb (Apr 26, 2012)

MochaRaf said:


> Haha so true! Every time I walked into the Dispatch center the guy was playing video games or watching a movie...



So? I play games on my phone or watch movies on the in-dash DVD players we have on my downtime if I'm not studying or joking around with my partner. What's your point?


Our dispatchers are rock solid. Yea we have one or two that no one particularly likes but they are all good at what they do and take their job seriously. 

I've never worked in dispatch but we are required to do short shifts annually in the dispatch center as observers and like someone else said, don't knock it until you have done it. Keeping track of 15-20 ambulances isn't as easy as you would think. 

Is it an excuse? No, we do our jobs they need to do theirs but don't generalize all dispatchers together because you have a sub-par dispatch crew. More than half of our dispatchers are Paramedics and the rest are all Intermediates with field experience, so saying that a prereq to work there is being on the slow side implies that all the field employees at my agency are on the slow side and I hate to be that guy but that does offend me. I also have friends that work in the dispatch center.


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## MochaRaf (Apr 27, 2012)

NVRob said:


> So? I play games on my phone or watch movies on the in-dash DVD players we have on my downtime if I'm not studying or joking around with my partner. What's your point?



I wasn't knocking our dispatcher at all, as a matter of fact Ive never had any issue with any of our dispatchers. I was simply agreeing with abckidsmom that some dispatchers can multi-task really well and have a blast at it!


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## Handsome Robb (Apr 27, 2012)

MochaRaf said:


> I wasn't knocking our dispatcher at all, as a matter of fact Ive never had any issue with any of our dispatchers. I was simply agreeing with abckidsmom that some dispatchers can multi-task really well and have a blast at it!



This, my friend, is something we can agree on. Sorry to come off snappy in my first post.


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## MochaRaf (Apr 27, 2012)

NVRob said:


> This, my friend, is something we can agree on. Sorry to come off snappy in my first post.



My eyes are still watery


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## Mountain Res-Q (Apr 27, 2012)

MochaRaf said:


> My eyes are still watery



Count yourself lucky...  the last time Rob snapped at me, I had to find a therapist...


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## Handsome Robb (Apr 27, 2012)

MochaRaf said:


> My eyes are still watery



Sorry to hear that. 



Mountain Res-Q said:


> Count yourself lucky...  the last time Rob snapped at me, I had to find a therapist...



It's like a Sour Patch commercial... First I'm sour, then I'm sweet! h34r:


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## MochaRaf (Apr 27, 2012)

NVRob said:


> Sorry to hear that.
> 
> 
> 
> It's like a Sour Patch commercial... First I'm sour, then I'm sweet! h34r:



So are we to refer to you as Sweet&Sour from now on? Or S&S [S/S] in short?

Hmm, that acronym sounds familiar... I know I used it sometimes, but what did the darn thing stand for again? 

Space shuttle perhaps? yeah that must be it, cause nothing else comes to mind...


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## MedicBender (Apr 27, 2012)

NVRob said:


> More than half of our dispatchers are Paramedics and the rest are all Intermediates with field experience



This makes a huge difference. Most of our dispatchers have no experience in the field. You can tell the one dispatcher who does because he understands that I can't clear the ER 5 minutes after arriving. The rest are pissed when I'm not clear and good to go. I always offer to let them tag a long for a few hours of my shift, so they can see the other side. No one has taken me up on my offer yet. 

I feel there should be a minimum requirement of at least a year field experience. Or have them do rotations with medic units. It might help ease the tension a bit when both crews know a bit about what the other is doing.


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## armywifeemt (Apr 27, 2012)

You know... if my company would pay me to go to Michigan and learn what a day in the life of a dispatcher was like, I'd gladly do it.. I'm all for seeing both sides. Of course, to make it fair, the dispatchers would have to come live my day just once. And we would have to see to it that it is literally one of those days that the second we get cleared from one run, we get another... all day long.. preferably at least a 16 hour shift by the time we are done because we get held over after we're supposed to be off... And they'd have to help us lift and move all the patients, and we'd make them do half the paperwork (for an authentic experience). Oh, and we'd have to make sure that, just for sheer realism, we had at least one if not two "canceled" runs that were an hour drive from our typical service area each way. Oh... and they have to drive on the highways in our service area where every other exit is blocked off by construction and the exits you can get off on are congested with :censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored: drivers who will intentionally see to it that we cannot get over in time to make our exit, thus wind up delayed five minutes on a run we were already given too little time to respond to... 


Of course, I'm feeling a little crabby today because we were posted for four hours (which is fine great fun fantastic) and the first call dispatched after we were posted was dispatched three minutes before our scheduled arrival time, to a location 15-20 minutes away. FYI, dispatch, 3.5 miles across town, with traffic lights, in a 35-45 mph speed limit area (not on the highway) around 3:30 PM takes more than five minutes. Just sayin. 

Did I mention this is a regular run that we are scheduled for (as a company, not as a crew) three times a week, reliably, for at least the last two months......... Oy vey.


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## Tigger (Apr 27, 2012)

Sometimes I think I'm doing EMS all wrong because I actually enjoy hanging out with a lot of my dispatchers more than some of the field crews.


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## Maine iac (Apr 30, 2012)

How large of a system are you in? Do you use a CAD system?

I have no complaints with my dispatchers! They manage upwards of 20 ambulances, give pre arrival instructions for many of our suburbs, and are the medical controllers for my area (controlling traffic into 12+ hospitals from 6 EMS agencies).

Dispatch doesn't control when and where the calls come in. You are getting paid to work. If there are areas you see need improvement talk to management.


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## Veneficus (Apr 30, 2012)

Maine iac said:


> Dispatch doesn't control when and where the calls come in. You are getting paid to work.



While that is true, there is more to maintaining the abilty and usefulness of a crew.

A tired, hungry, have to use the restroom, crew can be a danger not only to a patient but themselves.

There are documented effects of being in a confined space and/or operating without proper "rehab" between calls.

Most management are too stupid to figure this out though. It is much cheaper to pay for an extra crew or unit than it is to pay for a MVA or medical error. It costs even more when a disabled crew member sues you, win or lose.

This idea of EMS having to meet every call in minutes is just not realistic or helpful. Both in 911 and IFT.

Crew readiness and fatigue is just as much a part of resourse management as what unit is available/closest.


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## Maine iac (Apr 30, 2012)

Veneficus said:


> Crew readiness and fatigue is just as much a part of resourse management as what unit is available/closest.



Exactly.

My company, and I am sure most others, track our productivity. The magic number is like 0.35 to 0.4 or 35%-40% of the time I am on a call. For a while my company was in the 0.52/0.53 range and when each crews are doing 1200 or 1300 pts in a year that is a lot of work.

The reason I asked about CAD is because you can use the system to track units and base coverage off of it. We also use the Mum system which technically is a fire based system. But it shows where holes in our coverage are and makes recommendations on when/where to move a unit. 

With GIS nowadays there is zero excuse to not have your area analyzed to figure out how to meet your contracted response times.

Just like in the food service business with point of sales tracking- there is no reason it shouldn't be done for calls.


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## Veneficus (Apr 30, 2012)

Maine iac said:


> Exactly.
> 
> My company, and I am sure most others, track our productivity. The magic number is like 0.35 to 0.4 or 35%-40% of the time I am on a call. For a while my company was in the 0.52/0.53 range and when each crews are doing 1200 or 1300 pts in a year that is a lot of work.



I am curious if those numbers actually represent the total work being done. (driving between postings, etc)

35-40% UHU with a rested crew in quarters is far different from a crew confined to a truck. 





Maine iac said:


> With GIS nowadays there is zero excuse to not have your area analyzed to figure out how to meet your contracted response times..



Not sure I agree with this. 

Frstly for the reason that response times don't play a major part in patient outcome, and secondly, a longer response time to an area requiring less responses seems like a reasonable trade in order to preserve crew effectiveness without adding extra crews.

The whole idea of dynamic staging, system status management, or whatever it is being called these days has some very concerning flaws.

As an interesting point, how many hours a day are commercial truck drivers permitted to drive?

Do their duties include patient care?

Do you think being confined to a truck has a minimal impact on fatigue? Because I have some documents that make a convincing case to the contrary. (in fairness they were describing the effects on armor crews and armored infantry, but it could easily be applied to anybody from construction to the fire service)

Do you think it is equally restful to sleep on the chairs in the airport terminal or in a hotel?

Why would anyone think it would be equally restful to station somebody in a parking lot and think it was not the same?


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## Maine iac (Apr 30, 2012)

Veneficus said:


> I am curious if those numbers actually represent the total work being done. (driving between postings, etc)
> 
> 35-40% UHU with a rested crew in quarters is far different from a crew confined to a truck.
> 
> ...



 It depends on how long your shifts are. Sitting in a parking lot for 8 to 10 hours, possibly up to 12 shouldn't be a problem. That is no different than working a line shift and having to stand for 10 hours. Heck go to the back of the truck and lay on the cot if you find it uncomfortable.


This whole debate is very service dependent. I was saying it would behoove a system to utilize GIS if they were not already. Obviously if you are in a small system, it has less of a benefit, but for people with hundreds of square miles in their service area and complain about being hassled to meet response times (which do matter from a financial standpoint as contracts are based on those times) why not look at where the majority of your calls are coming from and have trucks near buy. Maybe your system is not SSM, but for a few hours a day, you move one truck to a corner of your PSA because everyday at rushhour you get a few calls there.

I am in a big system, 60k calls a year, so having our SSM and staffing figured out makes lots of sense financially. 

I would be interested to see those papers. I feel there is a difference between the armed forces and civilian life but I might be wrong.

All I know is 12 hours and 12 transports is much easier that 12 hours of hard labor.


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## Veneficus (Apr 30, 2012)

Maine iac said:


> It depends on how long your shifts are. Sitting in a parking lot for 8 to 10 hours, possibly up to 12 shouldn't be a problem. That is no different than working a line shift and having to stand for 10 hours. Heck go to the back of the truck and lay on the cot if you find it uncomfortable.



There is a slight difference between performing a repetative task and multiple tasks requiring critical thinking and subtle observation. 




Maine iac said:


> I am in a big system, 60k calls a year, so having our SSM and staffing figured out makes lots of sense financially.



You mean to say that so far you haven't experienced a loss from it yet.

In my experience and observations in multiple systems, SSM is just a ticking time bomb.

Of course a flag, wreath, and plaque with the names of a few lost crewmembers are rather cheap compared to negotiating realistic response contracts.

Constantly trying to shift around units to provide coverage without additional units is really saying you cannot effectively meet your coverage without an increased level of risk or crew pressure.  




Maine iac said:


> I would be interested to see those papers. I feel there is a difference between the armed forces and civilian life but I might be wrong.



Pm me your email and I will send the PDFs in the morning.

While I agree there is adifference between the military and civilian life. I find it interesting that EMS is quick to try to embrace the techniques and technology, but not as quick to embrace the practices of personal readiness and effectiveness.



Maine iac said:


> All I know is 12 hours and 12 transports is much easier that 12 hours of hard labor.



Perhaps, but there are arguably fewer things that can go wrong during that hard labor that affects people outside of the individual laborer.


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## armywifeemt (May 1, 2012)

The challenge of this job is that there are periods of hard labor (moving around 200+lb people is what I would consider hard labor) followed by periods of critical thinking... you wind up both physically and mentally exhausted, and I think there is more inherent danger in that than one or the other. 

Furthermore, I don't think much consideration is being given to the difficulty of driving around in a vehicle that seems to get caught like a sail in the wind... driving an emergency vehicle is stressful in and of itself if you are really paying attention to what you are doing. 

We leave our station at around 0820 and don't head back til 1915 or so.. we are frequently on calls with minimal time spent posting... even when we do not have runs we are frequently shifted around to provide coverage. It is very fatiguing... by the end of a 12 hour shift both I and my partner are totally exhausted.


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## Veneficus (May 1, 2012)

armywifeemt said:


> The challenge of this job is that there are periods of hard labor (moving around 200+lb people is what I would consider hard labor) followed by periods of critical thinking... you wind up both physically and mentally exhausted, and I think there is more inherent danger in that than one or the other.
> 
> Furthermore, I don't think much consideration is being given to the difficulty of driving around in a vehicle that seems to get caught like a sail in the wind... driving an emergency vehicle is stressful in and of itself if you are really paying attention to what you are doing.
> 
> We leave our station at around 0820 and don't head back til 1915 or so.. we are frequently on calls with minimal time spent posting... even when we do not have runs we are frequently shifted around to provide coverage. It is very fatiguing... by the end of a 12 hour shift both I and my partner are totally exhausted.



You have discovered why SSM only works on paper


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## MiddleEastMedic101 (May 1, 2012)

Our Medics would usually take turns dispatching and running calls. We had our 911 (101) where I worked, dispatch, and station all in the same building. 

We had one medic that could make "Ambulance 37, Transfer at (insert name of old age home) Code 2" sound like phone sex.


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## johnrsemt (May 2, 2012)

My partner and I took turns dispatching one night after the medic took the dispatcher to the hospital.    One of us would take the call and dispatch it,  the other one would go out to the truck with the medic asleep and do the run.   Next run, we would switch.    
   it took the medic 2 days to figure it out.


  I said for years that to be a full time dispatcher you had to give up 50 IQ points.  I was only a PT dispatcher so I only had to give up 25 points:  just ask Epi-do or Katgrrl2003


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## Maine iac (May 2, 2012)

Veneficus said:


> You have discovered why SSM only works on paper



Or maybe.... they don't have the staffing levels to not run their medics into the ground.




I appreciated the PM by the way.


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## Frozennoodle (May 4, 2012)

armywifeemt said:


> You know... if my company would pay me to go to Michigan and learn what a day in the life of a dispatcher was like, I'd gladly do it.. I'm all for seeing both sides. Of course, to make it fair, the dispatchers would have to come live my day just once. And we would have to see to it that it is literally one of those days that the second we get cleared from one run, we get another... all day long.. preferably at least a 16 hour shift by the time we are done because we get held over after we're supposed to be off... And they'd have to help us lift and move all the patients, and we'd make them do half the paperwork (for an authentic experience). Oh, and we'd have to make sure that, just for sheer realism, we had at least one if not two "canceled" runs that were an hour drive from our typical service area each way. Oh... and they have to drive on the highways in our service area where every other exit is blocked off by construction and the exits you can get off on are congested with :censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored: drivers who will intentionally see to it that we cannot get over in time to make our exit, thus wind up delayed five minutes on a run we were already given too little time to respond to...
> 
> 
> Of course, I'm feeling a little crabby today because we were posted for four hours (which is fine great fun fantastic) and the first call dispatched after we were posted was dispatched three minutes before our scheduled arrival time, to a location 15-20 minutes away. FYI, dispatch, 3.5 miles across town, with traffic lights, in a 35-45 mph speed limit area (not on the highway) around 3:30 PM takes more than five minutes. Just sayin.
> ...



I dispatched 911 for two years before becoming a medic.  My life is much better and far less stressful.  You really do need to get into a comm center and see what it's like.  I handled 911 call taking and police dispatch and handed off fire and ems calls to fire and ems.  Police dispatching is a different animal, car chases, robberies, domestic violence, all kinds of crazy crap. 

I dispatch on the side at my current service.  It's not as hard but it's not something I want to do.  I know a ton of medics who complain about dispatch day in and day out but I don't know a single one of them who actually want that job.


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## Frozennoodle (May 4, 2012)

Veneficus said:


> While that is true, there is more to maintaining the abilty and usefulness of a crew.
> 
> A tired, hungry, have to use the restroom, crew can be a danger not only to a patient but themselves.
> 
> ...



And that has nothing to do with dispatch and everything to do with operations. You can only do so much with what you have.  Also, while dispatch doesn't manually lift or move patients or work in the heat they are making the same sacrifices you are when it comes to bathrooms, eating, breaks. My 911 days saw about 60,000 calls for service a year. I don't know how many actual phone calls we got but it was probably 5:1 ratio. Typically we had 3 people for 2 radio channels and the phones. If there was a persuit or an officer down or in a fight then one dispatcher was instantly out the picture. 2 people to handle two radio channels and phones for about a 1,000 phone calls a day or 41 calls an hour which equals a little less than a call a minute. That's stressful enough plus you have to run FBI and warrant database checks between them, enter in reports for stolen goods, warrants, etc into the national databases, coordinate with other agencies, and keep track of 15 units without killing them. Then I get to hear them complain about how they had to go into x's slot to cover a call and they already have 3 reports and blah blah blah. Well I haven't used the bathroom since I got on, I don't get breaks, I don't get a lunch, and I don't get to drive around and have the opportunity to do half the things you can sneak by with on the street.  

We're a team and as a street medic I'll defend my dispatchers til I retire or die.


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## Veneficus (May 4, 2012)

Frozennoodle said:


> And that has nothing to do with dispatch and everything to do with operations. You can only do so much with what you have.  Also, while dispatch doesn't manually lift or move patients or work in the heat they are making the same sacrifices you are when it comes to bathrooms, eating, breaks. My 911 days saw about 60,000 calls for service a year. I don't know how many actual phone calls we got but it was probably 5:1 ratio. Typically we had 3 people for 2 radio channels and the phones. If there was a persuit or an officer down or in a fight then one dispatcher was instantly out the picture. 2 people to handle two radio channels and phones for about a 1,000 phone calls a day or 41 calls an hour which equals a little less than a call a minute. That's stressful enough plus you have to run FBI and warrant database checks between them, enter in reports for stolen goods, warrants, etc into the national databases, coordinate with other agencies, and keep track of 15 units without killing them. Then I get to hear them complain about how they had to go into x's slot to cover a call and they already have 3 reports and blah blah blah. Well I haven't used the bathroom since I got on, I don't get breaks, I don't get a lunch, and I don't get to drive around and have the opportunity to do half the things you can sneak by with on the street.
> 
> We're a team and as a street medic I'll defend my dispatchers til I retire or die.



If you consider my very first post on this subject, I think you will find that I said many similar things, but not the specifics of it. 

I think you are right, it is absolutely an operations issue. Unfortunately, the breakdown in operations often manifests between the field and dispatch.

As was recently pointed out in Haiti, instant keystrokes and telecommunications does not translate to what is happening or even possible on the ground.

However, whether it is an overworked dispatcher or a field crewmember, at some point there is going to be a breakdown and a critical mistake is going to be made.

I'd like to think i knew something about turning nothing into gold, but at some point of having so little, somebody has to step in and say "we cannot do anymore or keep this pace."

I recognize that it all costs money and that money doesn't fall from the sky like rain, but at some point, a dispatcher is not going to be able to do 20+ things at once, and and people aren't going to get an ambulance every 9 minutes. 

Having said that though, I still think it is better to do a handful of things well than do a bad job at a lot of things. If the public doesn't like it, they can fork over the cash to fix.


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## cusadiz (May 16, 2012)

shfd739 said:


> a bunch of redneck chop and squirts



You've just renamed my fire department ... Redneck Chop & Squirt Club. Thanks!


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