Dispatch officer as a career?

[Limes]

Hey all, I hope this is the best place to post this.

I've been looking into dispatch and wanted to know what your thoughts are on it, and how it differs from the frontline crew (EMS/Police/Fire) that respond to the calls. If anyone has worked in it, or know someone who has/is, what's it like working behind the computer vs responding to a call?

Thanks!

 

[EMDispatch]

Hi Limes,

I've been in dispatch in a rural county for almost 5 years and a supervisor the last 2.

Dispatch is a different animal than field response. The obvious difference is lack of contact with the scene. So you'll take the call, process it and then your done with 99% of calls outside of maybe handling radio traffic. In return, you get to be involved in more calls over the course of your shift. You get to see the big picture of everything going on, and coordinate responses and handle logistics. The job really comes down to corrdination and logistics.

Even in a small center, well especially in one, coordination and logistics are huge. When you're busy, chances are your handling 2-6 incidents, plus other phone lines, and multiple radio channels. They use the phrase "multitasking" which is bull. You really just are prioritizing everything you do and something's will suffer as a result. No one can successfully listen to 6 radio channels by themselves while answering emergency phone calls.Which is why it's all team based in a center.

Hopefully you'd work somewhere with at least 2 people on a shift. The hours still suck btw, most places are on rotating 10's, 12's , or 16's. You and you partners will work together on every call. One may dispatch all calls, another may handle all the radio traffic for a specific agency, etc. If you have good chemistry with a shift, it's awesome. If not, you get the job done but it sucks. You're stuck in a room with these people for a whole shift, minus some short bathroom breaks and if your really lucky a lunchbreak.

Just some other thoughts:

Most places process calls using some sort of standard algorithm, usually IAEDs or APCOs. If you've been a field provider it can make it easier to over think things, and get yourself in trouble from a QA standpoint. Agencies will provide you with their preferred training courses.

A lot of factors on who does what, etc. are agency specific. Some run single position where you're a calltaker or a dispatcher.

Pay, and career advancement are location dependent and similar to the field. You can make a career out of it, but you have limited room for advancement.

Just because you're removed from incidents, it doesn't reduce you risk of PTSD and other issues. Calls will stick with you.

It'a really fun to have a hand in everything. It's a very different feeling.

 

[DrParasite]

5 years as a 911 dispatcher in an urban EMS communications center, with another 2 as an urban fire communications dispatcher. This was after 10 years as n EMT, with the last 4 as a FT 911 EMS provider in both urban areas and the suburbs.

For me, it was a welcome change, as well as an importunity to do something different. At the 6 year mark, I knew I needed to get out or else I would never leave. And now I can safely say that I have 0 interest in returning to a comm center, and I know of many former dispatchers who say the same. But it was a good experience.

I loved the job (climate control is much better than being stuck in the elements), but it's much more mentally stressful than being on the truck. as a dispatcher you deal with maybe 30 calls every hour (because each 911 call is a different call), while on the truck you average maybe 1 an hour. There are plenty of other differences, but the reality is, you don't know what a dispatcher goes through simply by watching them work for a few hours; it's not the same until you are in the "hot seat"

Many field personnel think dspatching is easy; the reality is that it takes a different skill set, and is incredibly difficult. No, wait I should rephrase that: it's incredibly easy to dispatch; it's incredibly difficult to be a good dispatcher. It takes time, and training, and patience, something most dispatch centers don't have funding to provide. And every field person will expect you to be perfect, regardless of what else is going on in your area at any given time.

I will agree with what EMDispatch said, you can have calls that stick with you, and unlike in the field where you can actually do an intervention to help, when you are on the other end of a phone cord, all you can do is hope and pray the units get there as quickly as they can.

 

[SpecialK]

I've spent some time in Clinical Control. It's quite different because you are dealing with the tyranny of distance and having to rely 100% on verbal communication skills rather than being able to see people. You also get the person at the time (or immediately after) whatever has happened has happened and often an incredible amount of effort is required to get them to give you the information you need.

Control is in some ways an incredibly draconian environment. AMPDS defines strict questions and being licensed to continue to use AMPDS requires strict adherence to the questions (and only the questions), as well as a set level of auditing which at times is very petty and stupid, and all-hail-God-that-is-AMPDS sort of thing. For example you are audited on some absolutely trivial quality like "inflexion" in your voice or something ridiculous and you can be "too empathetic" or "not empathetic enough". Essentially, there is an element of not being allowed to be a human being (generally) and it is written you are expressly forbidden from even saying something like "Look mate, it's OK, we can help" or something similar, even saying "yep" or "nah" would get you dinged.

Having said that, Call Handling is not overly hard; yes you need to be a good communicator and sometimes apply a little bit of lateral thinking; but at the end of the day it's basically read the script and move on. The introduction of the Clinical Hub has made things a wee bit harder because people are no longer automatically sent an ambulance and well, they expect one. You do need to have a bit of tact when it comes to dealing with it but you just need to be firm but polite.

One thing I do like is Control seem to be a bit more open with people now about the fact ambulance are just not sent to everybody who wants one on a first come first serve basis; that ambulances do not just sit on the station waiting for a call; and there's a policy of active diversion for higher priority work. This wasn't really the case when I was there and it's pointless and stupid. No, people do not want to hear their problem has been classified as "urgent but not immediately life threatening" and that their ambulance was diverted to a cardiac arrest and your job has gone back into the queue and is able to wait for up to thirty minutes to be responded to, but most people do understand if you phrase it properly and are polite about it. The introduction of the Clinical Support Officer in Control to do more "clinical" assessment of the pending incidents queue and further questioning outside of what is possible within the extremely limited AMPDS logic has been a great thing.

Dispatching is much more interesting; I've never personally done dispatching though. The introduction of Initial Assign a number of years ago has taken some of the "sense" work out of it in talking to colleagues; you just respond whomever is recommended unless there's experience or logic to dictate adjustments. The introduction of the new upgraded MDTs has significantly reduced the amount of radio work which is required and it can only be a good thing for Control I imagine.

Many people make Control their career. Call Handlers can earn up to approximately $60,000 p..a. and Dispatchers up to $70,000 although you'd probably earn more if you worked somewhere in Australia, the UK or North America I imagine.

 

[EMDispatch]

Many people make Control their career. Call Handlers can earn up to approximately $60,000 p..a. and Dispatchers up to $70,000 although you'd probably earn more if you worked somewhere in Australia, the UK or North America I imagine.

Sadly in the US you won't find pay that good unless your in a major metropolitan area, with many years experience. We're still very under appreciated around here. But, I did forget to mention those dispatch certs through IAED are internationally accepted... If you can find a way to snag a visa, and can relocate.

 

[NysEms2117]

We're still very under appreciated around here.

Sadly, as somebody that has 2 civil service jobs (P.O and EMT) the true value of a dispatcher goes under the bridge... Mine has saved my butt on numerous occasions. Also a different note because im curious is there a radio comms collegiate degree?

 

[DrParasite]

Sadly, as somebody that has 2 civil service jobs (P.O and EMT) the true value of a dispatcher goes under the bridge... Mine has saved my butt on numerous occasions. Also a different note because im curious is there a radio comms collegiate degree?

nope. prereqs are typically a HS diploma, and 1 week 911 course and a 3 to 4 day EMD course. Once you get hired, there is typically a 3 to 12 month training process in house, but when the seat needs to be filled, that is often shorted due to staffing issues.

 

[EpiEMS]

nope. prereqs are typically a HS diploma, and 1 week 911 course and a 3 to 4 day EMD course. Once you get hired, there is typically a 3 to 12 month training process in house, but when the seat needs to be filled, that is often shorted due to staffing issues.

I was under the impression that many places require dispatchers to be EMTs, but perhaps this is just places like Boston where they're 3rd service EMS dispatchers?

 

[DrParasite]

many EMS agencies require their EMS dispatchers to be EMTs, because it helps get them more money to start, as well as gives field staff a place to go when they get sick of the road or get hurt and can no longer work on the ambulance. But it's more optional than required.

Many multi agency dispatch centers (ones that dispatch fire, PD and EMS) don't require it. and I'm pretty sure BPD and BFD dispatchers aren't EMTs.

 

[Limes]

I was under the impression that many places require dispatchers to be EMTs, but perhaps this is just places like Boston where they're 3rd service EMS dispatchers?

Where I work, there's a dispatcher position where EMR is an asset but not required for the job position. I assume at one point it would be part of our training once we get hired.

 

[EMDispatch]

Pre-standardized protocols a lot of places required EMT. The basic medical knowledge isn't as useful these days.

Like DrParasite said there are no prerequisites beyon a pulse and a high school degree to start the process. Pre-employment screening test and background checks weed out most candidates. The average career of a dispatcher is less than 5yrs... Most of those will leave in the training period

 

[DrParasite]

Pre-standardized protocols a lot of places required EMT. The basic medical knowledge isn't as useful these days.

not only is it not as useful, in some cases it is a negative, because most places don't want you to use your judgement, but rather stick to the guidecard and dispatch based solely on protocol.

The average career of a dispatcher is less than 5yrs... Most of those will leave in the training period

sad by true. I lasted about 6 years. But I also know of people who retired as dispatchers or dispatch supervisors after 25 years.

Dispatching look easy. There is downtime to watch TV, play on the internet, put your feet up, and even nap (assuming you work in a multiple person dispatch center and it's quiet). But when it's busy, well, to give you an example, this what was I walked into a few years ago in Dec 2010 on night #2 of a blizzard

Delta's and Charlies are ALS/Life threatening calls, the red dot means they have been waiting for at least 10 minutes..... 45 pending calls, only 4 ALS units and 8 BLS units for the entire city.... and people keep calling asking "where is the ambulance???"

True, this was an extreme example (during Sandy, we had something like 120 fire calls pending, mostly related to trees and wires down, I have no idea what the EMS call volume was), but we would routinely have 10-15 calls holding, with no units available to respond, yet people keep calling....

It wears on you, more than getting run into the ground on the truck. at least on the truck you only deal with one call at a time, dispatchers have to juggle and people are never happy. I think I received two commendations during my time there, and maybe 2 on air thank yous.... and plenty of people who thought they could do the job better than me, but not one who would actually do it. and even more that cursed my name because I dispatched them to an assignment....

It's not as easy as people think, but once you have a really bad dispatcher, you will appreciate having a good dispatcher, especially when the feces hits the rotating oscillator...

 

[NysEms2117]

It's not as easy as people think, but once you have a really bad dispatcher, you will appreciate having a good dispatcher, especially when the feces hits the rotating oscillator...

What shows up on your end when somebody presses the "oh **** orange button". All i know is I had to press that 1 time, and every available unit it seemed like the cavalry was there in under 5 minutes. I know the concept of it, it overrides all communications for 10 seconds. Just wondering if an alert message shows up or something like that. Dispatchers save LEO's lives i will 100% attest to that personally ! (never was in a life and death situation in EMS yet.)

 

[DrParasite]

What shows up on your end when somebody presses the "oh **** orange button".

when I dispatched, all we got when you pressed the orange button was the radio ID and an "EMER" code. From there, we had to tell everyone on the radio to standby unless urgen, grab the roster sheet to see what unit was assigned to that radio, and hope it wasn't a personal radio or a radio with the incorrect ID listed. Then we would call the unit on the air, and try to see if it was an accidental activation (which composed 97% of those activation), or an actual emergency (and if an actual emergency, try to ascertain what exactly was the nature of the emergency, if possible).

if it was an actual emergency, or we received no response, we would send our heavy rescue unit, the closest EMS unit, and the closest supervisor to the scene, as well as call the police supervisor, advise them of the situation, and request an emergency response to their last known location.

It's by far one of the most stressful experiences of my dispatching career, waiting for additional units to get on scene and give an update as to what was happening

 

[NysEms2117]

It's by far one of the most stressful experiences of my dispatching career, waiting for additional units to get on scene and give an update as to what was happening

Well we folks(people on the ground) appreciate it thanks. In our radio's we have like a little plastic case over it, where you can press through it but it takes some force. Or you can move the guard... but if you can do that, well then it may not be that emergent. Granted the LE and EMS sides are a bit separated(from my experience). Same people, just different aspect of response.

 

[SpecialK]

Delta's and Charlies are ALS/Life threatening calls, the red dot means they have been waiting for at least 10 minutes..... 45 pending calls, only 4 ALS units and 8 BLS units for the entire city.... and people keep calling asking "where is the ambulance???"

Your picture was interesting. 2A, 5A and 24B1 are classified as "grey" calls; i.e. do not get an ambulance without enhanced triage from a nurse or paramedic in control, 24B2 is "orange" and can wait for up to twenty minutes for a response.

If you're interested about four years ago now the national response priorities were changed from the old priority 1, 2 and 3 to new colours.

Purple: cardiac arrest, 8-minute response under lights, co-respond fire brigade or other first-responders, interrupt break..
Red - potentially immediately life-threatening, 8-minute response under lights, co-respond first responders if appropriate, interrupt break.
Orange - potentially serious but not immediately life-threatening, 20-minute response at road speed, for some calls a break may be interrupted.
Green - not medically urgent, can wait up to two hours, breaks not interrupted.
Grey - not medically urgent and suitable for further telephone triage (some green calls are also given enhanced triage).

 

[EMDispatch]

It's always interesting to hear how it's done elsewhere. I think for the most part the US is behind the curve on correctly implementing dispatch protocols. We ignore the level of agency specific customization available, and just stick with the cookie cutter response levels given.

 

[Handsome Robb]

What shows up on your end when somebody presses the "oh **** orange button". All i know is I had to press that 1 time, and every available unit it seemed like the cavalry was there in under 5 minutes. I know the concept of it, it overrides all communications for 10 seconds. Just wondering if an alert message shows up or something like that. Dispatchers save LEO's lives i will 100% attest to that personally ! (never was in a life and death situation in EMS yet.)

I'm not sure how the message pops up on their screen for ours but I know it's specific enough that they'll call the specific portable "medic 43-A portable checking your status".

Anything other than a certain word is considered a distress signal.

Also, when we click it it opens our mic for 10-15 seconds so the idea is click it and loudly say "sir/ma'am drop the knife/gun" or whatever the heck is going on so the dispatcher has an idea of what they're dealing with.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[NysEms2117]

I'm not sure how the message pops up on their screen for ours but I know it's specific enough that they'll call the specific portable "medic 43-A portable checking your status".

Anything other than a certain word is considered a distress signal.

Also, when we click it it opens our mic for 10-15 seconds so the idea is click it and loudly say "sir/ma'am drop the knife/gun" or whatever the heck is going on so the dispatcher has an idea of what they're dealing with.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

thats what mine was, but i had already been stabbed with a screwdriver, and i had a strong feeling other people were inside of said house, and i was running after the guy, so i hit my button and long behold more guys where inside. My mic stayed open for 10 seconds, and plays on top of all other comms. Like i previously stated knock on wood I have not needed it for EMS.

 

[EMDispatch]

I'm not sure how the message pops up on their screen for ours but I know it's specific enough that they'll call the specific portable

It all depends on how well radios are tracks be assigned aliases, at least on a Motorola system. Unfortunately, I have a police agency that cannot get through their head to stop randomly grabbing portables each shift... They have assigned ones for a reason.