Pre-arrival pt. contact

[FireGuard69]

From what I understand, we have two dispatchers per shift that take care of: Police, county and 1 city; EMS, two services; First Responders, about 5 services; Fire, about 8 services. I should stop by there to see how they request and process information.

Seriously, do it. You will learn WONDERS about what goes on "behind the scenes", and dispatchers, albeit strange creatures, love the company.

As for their staffing, it sounds damn near criminal. If you get a serious working fire, that would tie up minimum of one, preferably two dispatchers.

I am very sorry to hear of the understaffing. Perhaps you need to bring this to light of county commissioners?

What happened to interviewing the patient while on scene?

Psst. That wasn't me. :wink:

The intent wasn't to take that away, but to get more information before arriving on scene. I don't think that every response needs to be emergent, but I'd like to make the decision for each call with the most information available. Also, if I can eliminate some time on scene, even better.

Granted, alot of calls don't need L&S response to them, let alone EMS. Just drive like everyone is an idiot, and don't haul ass.

There are few calls worth the balls to the walls responses.

[mrmeaner]

As for their staffing, it sounds damn near criminal. If you get a serious working fire, that would tie up minimum of one, preferably two dispatchers.

I am very sorry to hear of the understaffing. Perhaps you need to bring this to light of county commissioners?

Yeah, they hired some firm for about $80,000 to do a study a couple years ago before they remodeled the new dispatch center and upgraded the communications systems. The results were shocking! They recommended just about everything the dispatchers were complaining about. Yes, a major incident is usually enough to bog down the dispatchers. Part of the problem is that we have people calling en route whenever another first responder or fire truck leaves the garage. But, that's a training issue that has been going on for a long, long time.

Psst. That wasn't me. :wink:

:oops: Yep, didn't catch it until after I posted. I attribute it to Cut & Paste laziness on my part.

[aussiephil]

No dispatch system is perfect, we always get & will always get incorrect or insufficient information. To quote the great Dr House, people lie.

We have a system called Pro Q & A which i believe is also used in the US, this is to direct a response based on information given. Reality is that frequent flyers & others learn to say the right thing to get an immediate response.

I dont believe a direct patch will help, they will just lie to you.

Take the case at face value. Tredat what you find when you get there.

Phil

[unknown]

Now I know all Ya'll where just waiting for me to jump in.........

Words of Wisdom... Be fast to think and slow to speak ; so I chewed on this for a while.....

As a Dispatcher.. I answer multiple calls from EMS agency's, Hospital ER's, Highway Patrol, Sheriffs Office, Fire, Rescue, Conservation Officers...and YES the GP. (general public)

Now. If you call me direct before you call 911 I am just gonna call your local 911 back door number and get you an ambulance, first responders, fire, rescue, sheriff.... what every my interrogation is gonna determine that you may need. YES I AM also gonna get you the closest air craft in route. In my world we work some VERY rural areas and often times my HEMS crews will land in a field or pasture or on the road side before anyone else can arrive on scene. While those resources are in route I am on the line with the caller asking questions and going over my EMD protocols. As a NREMTB and a EMD I can glean enough from the patients condition to give my crew educated patient information over the radio so they know what they are up against. My company ALSO staffs an in house RN. Medlink as we call it. She is the eyes and ears for the med crew while they are flying. She can also take the information I am taking from the patient and help pass information on to the crew. THIS way the crew gets the same effect of being on the phone with the caller yet they are freed up to concentrate on getting SAFELY to the scene.

Its called team work. You gotta trust your counterparts that are put into place to follow through for you and you can't Need/want/HAVE to do every thing yourself.

As a Certified Flight Communicator I can offer the same assistance to my Pilot, looking out for TFR's, keeping an eye on the weather, documenting and tracking part 91 vs part 135 (FAA requirement) flight following with GPS, fuel every 15 mins via radio contact (another FAA requirement) looking for refuel points, (do you know how to reference a FBO book for JETA vs AVGAS?)

It's all about TEAM work and letting your Dispatch center work with you and for you. Trying to be on line with the caller while you are in route to the scene isn't all its cracked up to be-- Brentolie nailed it on that one.

How would you handel the 23 year old female that was screaming crying into the phone because she was more worried about the fact that she had just left her 2 small children 3 and under alone at home while she walked down the street to the closest neighbors house to use the phone; due in part to the fact she was 5 months pregnate and having a miscarriage........... Lets not mention that as she stands there on the front porch of the neighbors home with blood pouring down both legs the residence has only MEN available to assist her........OK can we say DISASTER!!!!

The men where freakin out more than she was at this point-- AND YOU think you want to talk to them on the phone yourself while your in route L&S trying to get to the scene before she goes in to a full fledged case of shock?

Or would you rather let your communicator handel it? Let us instruct them to get her off the cold front porch, lay her down on her left side elevate her pelvis and cover her with a blanket.

Would you like to calm this hysterical mother down or would you rather allow you communicator to calm her down by assuring her that you and your partners are sending a deputy over to the local sawmill where her husband works so he can go meet her at the hospital where she is being taken, while another deputy is responding to her mothers house and will take her mother over to be with her children so they won't be alone.... OH yeah you can't do that cause you are just you and your partner is driving and HOW many cell phones and radios do you have at your disposal? hhhmmmmm

Team work... They don't call us Communication Specialist for nothing!

[CBEMT]

I'm not implying that the person in the passnger's seat isn't without tasks like playing navigator or spiking a bag.

I didn't know people spiked enroute. Are you storing the bags and drip sets in the cab?

That just seems.... odd. :?

[Firemedic405]

Now I know all Ya'll where just waiting for me to jump in.........

Words of Wisdom... Be fast to think and slow to speak ; so I chewed on this for a while.....

As a Dispatcher.. I answer multiple calls from EMS agency's, Hospital ER's, Highway Patrol, Sheriffs Office, Fire, Rescue, Conservation Officers...and YES the GP. (general public)

Now. If you call me direct before you call 911 I am just gonna call your local 911 back door number and get you an ambulance, first responders, fire, rescue, sheriff.... what every my interrogation is gonna determine that you may need. YES I AM also gonna get you the closest air craft in route. In my world we work some VERY rural areas and often times my HEMS crews will land in a field or pasture or on the road side before anyone else can arrive on scene. While those resources are in route I am on the line with the caller asking questions and going over my EMD protocols. As a NREMTB and a EMD I can glean enough from the patients condition to give my crew educated patient information over the radio so they know what they are up against. My company ALSO staffs an in house RN. Medlink as we call it. She is the eyes and ears for the med crew while they are flying. She can also take the information I am taking from the patient and help pass information on to the crew. THIS way the crew gets the same effect of being on the phone with the caller yet they are freed up to concentrate on getting SAFELY to the scene.

Its called team work. You gotta trust your counterparts that are put into place to follow through for you and you can't Need/want/HAVE to do every thing yourself.

As a Certified Flight Communicator I can offer the same assistance to my Pilot, looking out for TFR's, keeping an eye on the weather, documenting and tracking part 91 vs part 135 (FAA requirement) flight following with GPS, fuel every 15 mins via radio contact (another FAA requirement) looking for refuel points, (do you know how to reference a FBO book for JETA vs AVGAS?)

It's all about TEAM work and letting your Dispatch center work with you and for you. Trying to be on line with the caller while you are in route to the scene isn't all its cracked up to be-- Brentolie nailed it on that one.

How would you handel the 23 year old female that was screaming crying into the phone because she was more worried about the fact that she had just left her 2 small children 3 and under alone at home while she walked down the street to the closest neighbors house to use the phone; due in part to the fact she was 5 months pregnate and having a miscarriage........... Lets not mention that as she stands there on the front porch of the neighbors home with blood pouring down both legs the residence has only MEN available to assist her........OK can we say DISASTER!!!!

The men where freakin out more than she was at this point-- AND YOU think you want to talk to them on the phone yourself while your in route L&S trying to get to the scene before she goes in to a full fledged case of shock?

Or would you rather let your communicator handel it? Let us instruct them to get her off the cold front porch, lay her down on her left side elevate her pelvis and cover her with a blanket.

Would you like to calm this hysterical mother down or would you rather allow you communicator to calm her down by assuring her that you and your partners are sending a deputy over to the local sawmill where her husband works so he can go meet her at the hospital where she is being taken, while another deputy is responding to her mothers house and will take her mother over to be with her children so they won't be alone.... OH yeah you can't do that cause you are just you and your partner is driving and HOW many cell phones and radios do you have at your disposal? hhhmmmmm

Team work... They don't call us Communication Specialist for nothing!

I agree

[unknown]

I agree

Of coarse You agree :wink: After all it's me how could you not!! :love7:

[PatrickW]

I think it would be damn cool (and helpful) if there were a way to download the 911 call to the GPS computer and allow us to listen to it from the beginning once we go en route (or at least the passenger). It would be kind of tricky from a technical standpoint to listen and download at the same time (streaming, while they're still on the line) but it's doable.

Of course, at least at the service I work for, they can't even send down apartment numbers, location names or address changes to the GPS, so this is a bit of a stretch :roll:

[brentoli]

I think it would be damn cool (and helpful) if there were a way to download the 911 call to the GPS computer and allow us to listen to it from the beginning once we go en route (or at least the passenger). It would be kind of tricky from a technical standpoint to listen and download at the same time (streaming, while they're still on the line) but it's doable.

Of course, at least at the service I work for, they can't even send down apartment numbers, location names or address changes to the GPS, so this is a bit of a stretch :roll:

How would that be helpful....

give your damn dispatchers a break for goshs sake!!!

[PatrickW]

How would that be helpful....

give your damn dispatchers a break for goshs sake!!!

Huh? How was I giving dispatchers a hard time? :?

It would be helpful because dispatchers can't tell us everything. They can't convey to us the tone of the call, if we're stepping into a full arrest situation with five family members all screaming at each other during the call. Sure, we need to be prepared regardless, but we need to be prepared for most things regardless. It's still nice to get a head's up.

At least in my area, we use the EMD system. Our dispatchers often times tell us the age and gender of the patient, the response code and the chief complaint. Sometimes they'll even forget to tell us the age and gender. Sometimes I'll go back and look up a call only to see helpful location info in the call notes that was never relayed to us.

It would be nice to know if the chest pain call we're going on is a "delta response" because the first party caller says he's not breathing normally or because it's a third party caller who says that the pt is altered.

With EMD, they're apparently not supposed to downgrade response levels. The other day a call came out as a delta response for chest pain and then in the middle of the call they figure out that it's an 8yo A&O with abd pain x 2 hours ago. We never got that info, and they sent fire because it came out as chest pain. Yesterday, I went to another delta response for chest pain which turned out to be chronic tingling in the extremities. I went to a shark bite call once involving an 8yo, we were never told it was a ped. That would have been nice to know. Same thing the other day with a seizure. Second floor of an apartment building. Would have been nice to know so we could bring the broselow.

Two shifts ago, we were sent to a pregnancy that turned out to be a domestic. I talked to the calltaker afterwards and she thought the caller started acting kind of odd in the middle of the call, but otherwise didn't think anything of it. Maybe if we heard the call, we could have picked up on it as well and requested PD while we were still en route.

A few shifts ago, we got a 911 hangup. Only info we got was that some lady called, said she ran out of her meds, and hung up. Dispatch acted surprised when I asked if police were en route and if we needed to stage. I don't know if this is a psych patient and neither did dispatch apparently, but maybe if I heard what little they heard I could understand why they didn't think police were necessary.

These are just a few examples I can think of off the top of my head. I realize dispatch can only work with what info they get, which may or may not be accurate. But you're really challenging the idea that being able to listen to these calls might just be helpful every now and then? Of course it would be nice to hear the information first hand instead of just getting a little bit of second-hand info.