the 100% directionless thread

DesertEMT66 said:
Dispatch would not be on my top list for jobs. Our dispatchers tend to stay a long time (we have several who have been dispatching for 20+ years).

Stuck in 1 big room, looking at computer screens, answering phone calls, and answering radio traffic sounds really dry but I also have a hatred of talking on phones.
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It's a tough job. Takes a special kind of person to sit in a room and answer calls from stressed out, upset people all day. Not to mention all the sass from the field people on the radio. I did it for a bit, but realized it wasn't for me!
 
I'd kill for a big room... we're jammed into a little one. It's awesome that you have a lot of seasoned veterans too. It seems like people either mesh with it and stay on forever, or are out the door real quick.
 
Our poor dispatchers have a little bitty room as well. Not appealing, and God help you if you come in wearing a little too much deodorant or ate garlic in the last decade.
 
TheLocalMedic said:
It's a tough job. Takes a special kind of person to sit in a room and answer calls from stressed out, upset people all day. Not to mention all the sass from the field people on the radio. I did it for a bit, but realized it wasn't for me!
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Our dispatchers don't handle the actual 911 calls. They receive the calls directly from the fire department or calls that on/off duty employees place.
 
DesertEMT66 said:
Stuck in 1 big room, looking at computer screens, answering phone calls, and answering radio traffic sounds really dry but I also have a hatred of talking on phones.
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On my days off, that's what I do for hours, lol.
 
We just spent like 3 and a half million dollars on a new dispatch center, it's pretty badass.

I've always said I was interested in doing it PRN, not stoked to do it full time for the next year or so but also enjoy having my job. Also pretty sure I keep my experience. Don't gain any but don't lose it either.

Running the system isn't the part that I'm worried about learning. I know how it works and I've been listening to it for over two years. Learn the protocols and it'll come pretty easy I think. Taking 911s will be a task and what I think will take the longest to learn. This is all assuming I get it. Probably will hear something on Monday or Tuesday.
 
I hope they let you lateral over. Good luck man.
 
Our dispatchers have a medium size room. 2 dispatchers. We all hang out in there and bull:censored::censored::censored::censored: before our shifts. They get mad when we are loud lol but I think it helps to be on a friend level with them.

Where I used to work the dispatch center was 2 counties away.
 
Anjel said:
Where I used to work the dispatch center was 2 counties away.
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I think my evil empire dispatch is closer to rob than it is to me. It's in Lake Havasu
 
Hmm...interesting. The ambulance I'm assigned to today (we don't have permanently assigned units) has more yellow flashers than red.
 
TransportJockey said:
I think my evil empire dispatch is closer to rob than it is to me. It's in Lake Havasu
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Air Methods dispatches hundreds of helicopters all over the country from a single center in Omaha, NE.
 
There's a few companies that are privatizing 911 call centers, as well. Seems like a no brainer to me.
 
Our dispatch is massive. It's only a year or two old, and they didn't spare a cent. This picture is probably a little over 1/3 of the dispatching area. There's also offices, conference rooms, a full-blown kitchen, sleeping quarters, a day room, and I'm sure I'm missing something.
a8a8uru7.jpg
 
STXmedic said:
Our dispatch is massive. It's only a year or two old, and they didn't spare a cent. This picture is probably a little over 1/3 of the dispatching area. There's also offices, conference rooms, a full-blown kitchen, sleeping quarters, a day room, and I'm sure I'm missing something.
a8a8uru7.jpg
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Looks like the dispatch center in "The Call".

And rob, dispatching is basically a script you can run off of if all else fails. You go EMD and follow the flip chart.I'm sure you'll do fine.
 
I wish I worked in a place like that... There are 3-5 of us in our room handling all 911 calls and radio traffic for all but one agency in our county.

Rob, you'll be great I'm sure. It just takes a while to get used to handling callers and interpreting what they're telling you. I hope you get the chance to do it.

As for the noise thing, our recorders and mics can pick up pretty faint sounds. Additionally having your ears "split" between different sources makes you a little more sensitive to changes in volume. We have LEOs coming in and out all the time and they don't seem to understand I can't have people carrying on loudish conversations while I'm on the phone getting info or providing instructions. But is still nice to have visitors in our cave.
 
STXmedic said:
Our dispatch is massive. It's only a year or two old, and they didn't spare a cent. This picture is probably a little over 1/3 of the dispatching area. There's also offices, conference rooms, a full-blown kitchen, sleeping quarters, a day room, and I'm sure I'm missing something.
a8a8uru7.jpg
Click to expand...

Our dispatch center isn't that big. They have offices, conference rooms, a kitchen, and all that wonderful jazz (it's incorporated into a deployment center). Any given time we have 3-5 dispatchers just talking to ambulance crews, 1-2 dispatchers receiving calls from the fire department and relying the info, 1-2 to answer phones for IFTs, and a dispatch supervisor.
 
Most of the space is for PD's dispatchers. Fire/EMS typically only has 8-10 people on the radios at a time.
 
I'll try I get a picture of ours. There's 11 dispatch consoles all with the same capabilities. They change height so you can stand or sit as you please. Usually during the day they have one system stays manager, one or two call takers, an aircraft communications specialist for our helicopters, a nurse navigator for our Nurse Health Line/Omega Protocol (basically denying a 911 call and triaging to different healthcare services), a wheelchair transport dispatcher and a supervisor.

At night usually just 1 system status manger 1 call taker, one ACS, a NN, and a Supe.

We only dispatch for our agency, we just have a lot of divisions.

Halothane, Air Methods provides our aircraft and crew minus healthcare providers but we still do our own dispatching. I'm guessing they go case by case on if they do the dispatching or not? Also our ACS handles any area HEMS traffic inbound or outbound from the hospitals, sometimes they kick them I the airport tower and make them land there if they aren't allowed to land at the hospitals (we have a service that's somewhat sketchy) or if there isn't room.

If this happens I'm going to have to go get my EMD courtesy of my agency then eventually my ACS within a year.
 
You guys down triage Omega calls? That's awesome! What kind of alternative referral do you typically use?
 
NAED started piloting nurse referral line systems I the past few years... They'll provide them with general info, urgent care numbers, and some places schedule appointments. The only two I was aware of using it were in KY and Tx. Not sure if that's what they're usng though.
 
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