Dispatch.

[EMT11KDL]

the only way to get visitors, i mean who wants to go to dispatch at 3 in the morning, but one thing about it. 3 in the morning the radio traffic gets very interesting, i have heard some weird things over the air at that time lol

 

[thegreypilgrim]

Dispatchers in my area typically represent the class of the outrageously incompetent. It seems like there is only one brain cell in that room, and all of them must share it - it's even worse when the dispatch supervisor is on duty during the week and injects her own special brand of insanity into the situation. The dispatchers at my particular company will accept literally any call that comes in (because that's what they're told to do) and the idea of interrogating callers for even the most basic of information never crosses their mind. Despite being an ALS unit, all we do is IFTs; and, I'm sorry but when some fool from an urgent care clinic or convalescent home calls in and says they've got a patient with chest pain that they want transported so they can "rule out MI" that facility quite simply needs to just call 911. No one is benefited by having to wait an hour while some barely running IFT unit treks across the county.

Also, it is inevitable, absolutely inevitable that as soon as we are cleared for quarters (we're made to post for the first 12 of our 24 hour shift) a call will come in for us which they will forget about until they hear us say "Unit XYZ in quarters" over the radio. This will occur without fail at least once per shift. I feel I have every right to complain because literally anyone could do a better job than they do.

 

[DrParasite]

I feel I have every right to complain because literally anyone could do a better job than they do.

So put your application in. If you can do it so much better, become a dispatcher and show them all how it should be done. Unless you have actually DONE their job, you still have no right to complain.

Dispatchers in my area typically represent the class of the outrageously incompetent. It seems like there is only one brain cell in that room, and all of them must share it - it's even worse when the dispatch supervisor is on duty during the week and injects her own special brand of insanity into the situation.

and you are basing this on:

The dispatchers at my particular company will accept literally any call that comes in (because that's what they're told to do) and the idea of interrogating callers for even the most basic of information never crosses their mind.

imagine that. a dispatcher accepts a call for someone who calls 911 and sends out an ambulance. those retards, that's an obvious sign that they lack a brain.

Despite being an ALS unit, all we do is IFTs;

I'm sorry you hate your job. If your job is to do IFTs, than that's what you do. if you don't like it, FIND ANOTHER JOB!!!!! Quit *****ing that you have to do IFTs because you are a medic, it's not the dispatcher's fault that your job sucks. Personally, I can't imagine being a medic and doing IFTs, but you accepted the job, not me. Sucks for you, or maybe you just aren't good enough to get a 911 ALS job. Maybe if you get a job in dispatch you will actually find a job you are good at?

and, I'm sorry but when some fool from an urgent care clinic or convalescent home calls in and says they've got a patient with chest pain that they want transported so they can "rule out MI" that facility quite simply needs to just call 911.

you mean a person in a convalescent home can't have a heart attack? or never walks into an urgent care clinic with chest pain, and it turns out to be a serious problem? I guess I should have yelled at the doctor who called 911 for his patient, who was having a massive bleed, and tell him "no doc, according to the grey pilgrim, no real emergencies ever come out of the doctor's office!!!!"

No one is benefited by having to wait an hour while some barely running IFT unit treks across the county.

I bet the patient is benefited by having the ambulance take him to the hospital. But again, it's not the dispatcher's fault that your system sucks. don't like it, get a job in another system (if you can)

Also, it is inevitable, absolutely inevitable that as soon as we are cleared for quarters (we're made to post for the first 12 of our 24 hour shift) a call will come in for us which they will forget about until they hear us say "Unit XYZ in quarters" over the radio.

yes, it's all a big conspiracy, to pick on you to make your life difficult. How DARE THEY give you a job when you are getting paid to go on jobs. the arrogance of those idiots

You know, a paramedic who only works IFTs, and then *****es about the fact that he only gets to do IFTs (despite that being his job), probably has less brain cells than the dispatchers who is sending them on runs, and the dispatcher has to handle 3-25 units at the same time. And is probably stuck at that company because no other company wants him

BTW, I have heard about the LA EMS system, apparently their standards for EMS providers isn't that high.

 

[thegreypilgrim]

So put your application in. If you can do it so much better, become a dispatcher and show them all how it should be done. Unless you have actually DONE their job, you still have no right to complain.

I have absolutely no desire to be locked in 10x10 room and mindlessly click on computer screens all day...and I know that's what they do because I've been in the dispatch center and observed the nature of their job here. And this notion that unless one has actually performed a given job then one has no basis or capability to realize when it's being done poorly is nonsensical. I don't have to have ever been, for example, a teacher to know when someone is doing a horrible job at it or rightly criticize them for it. Grow up.

and you are basing this on:

The fact that I work there and see it happen on a daily basis? I can't fathom the point you're trying to make here.

imagine that. a dispatcher accepts a call for someone who calls 911 and sends out an ambulance. those retards, that's an obvious sign that they lack a brain.

You must have abysmally poor reading comprehension, because I specifically stated in my post (which you even acknowledged no less) that this is not a 911 service. The dispatchers here are not fielding 911 calls (thank God for that). Thus, at least in theory, there is some measure of control over the calls that get accepted. indeed.

I'm sorry you hate your job. If your job is to do IFTs, than that's what you do. if you don't like it, FIND ANOTHER JOB!!!!! Quit *****ing that you have to do IFTs because you are a medic, it's not the dispatcher's fault that your job sucks. Personally, I can't imagine being a medic and doing IFTs, but you accepted the job, not me. Sucks for you, or maybe you just aren't good enough to get a 911 ALS job. Maybe if you get a job in dispatch you will actually find a job you are good at?

Jesus Christ man take a xanax or something before you stroke out or something. No where did I complain about having to do IFTs, I simply stated that this is an IFT service to provide context to the situation we deal with every day here. And you're right it isn't the dispatcher's fault, it's management's fault for hiring such terribly unqualified people and providing very little training which results in adding just a little bit more variety to the daily headache. Furthermore, you may not have noticed but we're in the midst of something of an economic crisis here. You know, high unemployment and all that. People are thankful they have any job whatsoever. 911 ambulance services in this region are not hiring, have not been hiring for some time, and will not be hiring again for the foreseeable future. It's a dead market. There are people I went to medic school with who have still not found a paramedic job, and here we are nearly 2 years later. Open your eyes man and try to refrain from flying off the handle when someone dares criticizes the simpletons that preside over the all-knowing dispatch center.

you mean a person in a convalescent home can't have a heart attack? or never walks into an urgent care clinic with chest pain, and it turns out to be a serious problem? I guess I should have yelled at the doctor who called 911 for his patient, who was having a massive bleed, and tell him "no doc, according to the grey pilgrim, no real emergencies ever come out of the doctor's office!!!!"

There are those stellar reading comprehension skills again! No genius, but if they do the physician on duty shouldn't mess around and call the contracted ambulance service whose nearest unit is likely to be miles away, is not authorized to respond RLS, and will take at least 30 minutes to an hour to get there. THEY SHOULD JUST CALL 911 AND THE DISPATCHER SHOULD ADVISE THEM TO DO SO NOT JUST TAKE THE CALL LIKE AN UNTHINKING AUTOMATON. I know you're just an EMT, and as such probably have no clue about the emergent nature of such disease processes, but still what is so hard to understand about that?

I bet the patient is benefited by having the ambulance take him to the hospital. But again, it's not the dispatcher's fault that your system sucks. don't like it, get a job in another system (if you can)

See previous.

yes, it's all a big conspiracy, to pick on you to make your life difficult. How DARE THEY give you a job when you are getting paid to go on jobs. the arrogance of those idiots

I don't care if they're going to give me a call. I get frustrated with them when they take a call that will be assigned to our unit, and then wait until we get all the way back to station from wherever in the near 5,000 sq mi response area we have, unpack all our gear, and then decide to assign us. Not at any other point in our trek back to quarters. Or try to tell me that we're the only available unit to take a call that's not in our area at 0400 because they make "friends" with field crews who say nice things to them over the radio and they don't want them to have to wake up and run the call even though they're closer.

You know, a paramedic who only works IFTs, and then *****es about the fact that he only gets to do IFTs (despite that being his job), probably has less brain cells than the dispatchers who is sending them on runs, and the dispatcher has to handle 3-25 units at the same time. And is probably stuck at that company because no other company wants him

I always appreciate such erudite and "no nonsense" analyses, especially when they come from people who can barely comprehend what they read.

BTW, I have heard about the LA EMS system, apparently their standards for EMS providers isn't that high.

You should see their standards for dispatchers. Thankfully I don't suffer from a crippling inferiority complex, though, and feel utterly no need to prove myself to some random Jersey EMT. Good luck with your situation though.

 

[DrParasite]

I have absolutely no desire to be locked in 10x10 room and mindlessly click on computer screens all day...and I know that's what they do because I've been in the dispatch center and observed the nature of their job here. And this notion that unless one has actually performed a given job then one has no basis or capability to realize when it's being done poorly is nonsensical. I don't have to have ever been, for example, a teacher to know when someone is doing a horrible job at it or rightly criticize them for it. Grow up.

I see. so you can't do the job, won't do the job, so you know it can be done better, because you have see it being done. oh, and your teacher example is so funny; you know a teacher can't teach, or is bad at teaching, but you can't actually do it better. so you can arm chair QB, or be a football fan screaming from the sidelines that you can do a better job than the coach, because you can see how bad they are, and have the right to criticize them. right, good call on that one

The fact that I work there and see it happen on a daily basis? I can't fathom the point you're trying to make here.

I see you are slow so, I will use little words: if you don't do the job, have never done the job, and are not trained in the job, then you don't know exactly what the job actually entails do you?

You must have abysmally poor reading comprehension, because I specifically stated in my post (which you even acknowledged no less) that this is not a 911 service. The dispatchers here are not fielding 911 calls (thank God for that). Thus, at least in theory, there is some measure of control over the calls that get accepted. indeed.

I know this might shock you, but many decent companies do IFTs and 911s. You probably don't work for one, but I can see why. But you got me on that one, I assumed that because you were blowing a gasket about medical emergencies, that you actually did medical emergencies. My mistake, I gave you and your agency too much credit.

Jesus Christ man take a xanax or something before you stroke out or something. No where did I complain about having to do IFTs, I simply stated that this is an IFT service to provide context to the situation we deal with every day here.

dude, I'm not the one who is stressing about having to be sent on IFTs that should be 911s, that's you. I'm just pointing out the absurdity of your complaints.

And you're right it isn't the dispatcher's fault, it's management's fault for hiring such terribly unqualified people and providing very little training which results in adding just a little bit more variety to the daily headache.

oh I see now. instead of blaming management for stupid policies, restrictive directives for the dispatchers, you blame them for hiring stupid people. not that you could do any better, but you know they suck at their job. good call buddy <_<

Furthermore, you may not have noticed but we're in the midst of something of an economic crisis here. You know, high unemployment and all that. People are thankful they have any job whatsoever. 911 ambulance services in this region are not hiring, have not been hiring for some time, and will not be hiring again for the foreseeable future. It's a dead market. There are people I went to medic school with who have still not found a paramedic job, and here we are nearly 2 years later.

we are in an economic crisis? I didn't know that. Of course I also work 4 jobs (1 FT, 1 PT, and 2 per diem), so I can pretty much work 7 days a week if I so desired, and buy lots of shiny toys that I work hard for. or a Medic coworker of mine who made 97,000 last year working 1 FT job and one per diem job (because he likes to work, not because he has to). and I work only in a 911 dispatcher center or as a 911 EMT, I'm not an all knowing IFT paramedic. that means I get to see actual sick people instead of just pick up grandma from the nursing home like you get to.

Open your eyes man and try to refrain from flying off the handle when someone dares criticizes the simpletons that preside over the all-knowing dispatch center.

dude, you are a simpleton IFT medic. you are maybe a nickle a dozen apparently. and the worst part is, you can't even do their job, but you think they do it so bad. I pity you actually. you really are like the football fan who thinks he can coach a game better than the NFL coach.

There are those stellar reading comprehension skills again! No genius, but if they do the physician on duty shouldn't mess around and call the contracted ambulance service whose nearest unit is likely to be miles away, is not authorized to respond RLS, and will take at least 30 minutes to an hour to get there. THEY SHOULD JUST CALL 911 AND THE DISPATCHER SHOULD ADVISE THEM TO DO SO NOT JUST TAKE THE CALL LIKE AN UNTHINKING AUTOMATON.

oh, I see it now. so they should turn down a client/customer request for an ambulance, which pays your salary, and over ride the physician on duty and tell the DOCTOR (that's a person who is above you in education and skills, in case you forgot) that he's wrong, and he should call 911. maybe you should do that, let me know how big of an imprint the door knob is in your *** after your boss slams the door on you as he is firing you and replacing you with someone who wants to do what he was hired to do. Even better, when you get there, you should the doctor he should call 911 instead of using your contracted service. heck, I bet you don't even know why facilities use a contracted service instead of calling 911 for everything.

I know you're just an EMT, and as such probably have no clue about the emergent nature of such disease processes, but still what is so hard to understand about that?

your right. I am just an EMT. I respond to emergency calls on a daily basis. You are a paramedic, who responds to non-emergency inter-facility transports. You deal with non-emergencies, and I deal with emergencies. who do you think is more experienced with emergent nature of things? the guy who picks up patients with chest pain, diff breathing, or has been shot, stabbed or hit by a vehicle on a daily basis, or the guy who picks up grandma when she has a UTI?

I don't care if they're going to give me a call. I get frustrated with them when they take a call that will be assigned to our unit, and then wait until we get all the way back to station from wherever in the near 5,000 sq mi response area we have, unpack all our gear, and then decide to assign us. Not at any other point in our trek back to quarters. Or try to tell me that we're the only available unit to take a call that's not in our area at 0400 because they make "friends" with field crews who say nice things to them over the radio and they don't want them to have to wake up and run the call even though they're closer.

riiiiight. It's all a big conspiracy to pick on the grey pilgrim. the mean dispatchers are picking on you. maybe you are a little paranoid? maybe if you treated them better they would treat you better? or maybe if you wear your tin foil hat the aliens won't plot against you.

I always appreciate such erudite and "no nonsense" analyses, especially when they come from people who can barely comprehend what they read.

I can read quite well, thank you. You, on the other hand, seem to think you know it all, and can do a job better than others while never actually having to do the job.

You should see their standards for dispatchers. Thankfully I don't suffer from a crippling inferiority complex, though, and feel utterly no need to prove myself to some random Jersey EMT. Good luck with your situation though.

HAHAHAHAHAHA. I have a crippling inferiority complex? in anything, I have a superiority complex. and I don't need to prove anything to a medic who isn't even good enough to go on a 911 call.

oh, and just so we are all clear, I don't think you are a bad medic. You might be, you might not be. I am not a medic, so I have no place to judge you, because I can't do your job. You might be able to say I'm an ignorant EMT, but since I can go on 911 emergencies (you know, where people can die) and the best you can get to is a nursing home 911 call, I am inclined to think that you aren't qualified to do that either.

and I'm a 911 dispatcher. Lots of people say they do a better job, but when push comes to shove, most find it's not as easy as they initially thought. but you know everything so....

 

[DrParasite]

Biggest problems I have with dispatch

1) not getting the right location. this means the right street, apartment number, floor, and cross streets. and I say this is important, because ALL 911 operators are supposed to confirm a location with a caller, not just read it off the ANI/ALI.

2) not following agency protocol. this means if you have a diff breathing, an ALS unit is requested. if you have an elderly lady who syncopizes, and ALS unit is requested. if the call is in a potentially unsafe scene, if PD is supposed to be dispatched along with EMS, send them. and if for some reason they are not going to follow the protocol, LET ME KNOW WHY. no units available, patients condition, etc as long as I know what's going on, I'm much more accommodating.

3) answer the units when they call. If I call you, answer me. no microphone clicks, no dead air, if I say "ambulance one to dispatch" respond "ambulance one go ahead" so I know you are listening and heard my transmission. I know you are busy, but I better things to do that just BS with you over the radio.

4) dispatch is a resource. dispatch is there to support the field crews. if I need help finding a place, help me out. if I need info about a call, give it to me. no attitude, just give me the information that will let me do my job.

5) if the radio system sucks, that's not my fault. we all need to deal with it. don't give me attitude because you can't hear my talking to you on my department issued radio.

BTW, I'm a 911/EMD Instructor certified by 2 of the 3 major dispatching accrediting companies in the United States, and I hold dispatching credentials in the 3rd. I can both do the job, and teach others how to do the job. So I have a right to complain when someone doesn't do their job correctly.

 

[Jinkx]

Wow!

 

[EMT11KDL]

Wow!

Jinkx has said it all!!

 

[MDA]

This video cracks me up every time.

WARNING FOR FOUL LANGUAGE. MAY NOT BE SAFE FOR WORK.
If you play it, consider this a warning.

[YOUTUBE]KkwvMsF-OGY[/YOUTUBE]

 

[EMT11KDL]

This video cracks me up every time.

WARNING FOR FOUL LANGUAGE. MAY NOT BE SAFE FOR WORK.
If you play it, consider this a warning.

[YOUTUBE]KkwvMsF-OGY[/YOUTUBE]

hahahahahaha i have felt the exact same way!!!