After racing lights and sirens for a first party unconscious person, up three flights of stairs and into an open apartment:
"Did you report a life or death emergency?"
Blank stare from occupant with coat and bag.
"No, I called 911."
"Did you report a life or death emergency?"
Blank stare from occupant with coat and bag.
"No, I called 911."
Comments
This post was mentioned on Twitter by theHappyMedic: Latest from HMHQ: Blink. Blink. http://happymedic.com/2010/02/19/blink-blink/...
It's sad that while this sounds ridiculous- after working in the field as shirt as I have I've seen it more often than not. When did people start viewing 911 as a taxi number and not as an emergency service?
*blink blink*
It's sad that while this sounds ridiculous- after working in the field as shirt as I have I've seen it more often than not. When did people start viewing 911 as a taxi number and not as an emergency service?
*blink blink*
It would also be nice if the field personnel could listen to the 9-1-1 tapes and give feedback that would improve the fairly brain-dead criteria-based dispatch system.
Ridiculous
Ridiculous
It would also be nice if the field personnel could listen to the 9-1-1 tapes and give feedback that would improve the fairly brain-dead criteria-based dispatch system.
Ridiculous
Ridiculous
*blink* *blink*
*blink* *blink*
It's nearly "If you've been shot press 1, Stabbed press 2, if you are dead press 3,"
Once, when I was off duty in Mesa Az, I witnessed a Car / Pedestrian accident, right in front of me, like a fool I dialed 911, and informed dispatch that I was an off duty medic, and exactly what response would be needed, and to place a helicopter on standby, the dispatcher stopped me, and started reading me the crap off the cards, when I tried to explain things the dispatcher said " Sir, try to calm down, help is on the way just stay on the phone with me." Since a person was dying in front of me, I felt their needs a priority, So I hung up on the dispatcher, who immediately called me back and repeated the "Try to remain calm sir " line, I handed my phone to someone else...... as long as dispatchers are expected to not think and ONLY follow protocol we will have these problems..
Just because you are a Medic doesn't mean we as Call Evaluators/Dispatchers are allowed to treat you any differently then Joe Citizen when you call 9-1-1, if you don't want to speak to us then delegate the job to someone else, and go save a life.
It's nearly "If you've been shot press 1, Stabbed press 2, if you are dead press 3,"
Once, when I was off duty in Mesa Az, I witnessed a Car / Pedestrian accident, right in front of me, like a fool I dialed 911, and informed dispatch that I was an off duty medic, and exactly what response would be needed, and to place a helicopter on standby, the dispatcher stopped me, and started reading me the crap off the cards, when I tried to explain things the dispatcher said " Sir, try to calm down, help is on the way just stay on the phone with me." Since a person was dying in front of me, I felt their needs a priority, So I hung up on the dispatcher, who immediately called me back and repeated the "Try to remain calm sir " line, I handed my phone to someone else...... as long as dispatchers are expected to not think and ONLY follow protocol we will have these problems..
Just because you are a Medic doesn't mean we as Call Evaluators/Dispatchers are allowed to treat you any differently then Joe Citizen when you call 9-1-1, if you don't want to speak to us then delegate the job to someone else, and go save a life.
point , the sad thing is, you're absolutely right, dispatchers are not
allowed to treat things differently even though they know the situation, all
they are allowed to do is read the cards, period. I worked in dispatch for
AMR and came to the conclusion that in spite of it being a CYA thing,
designed by so called "experts", the whole flip card thing is a joke, ask
any street medic, if all you do is "follow protocol blindly" you will kill
people, the current system doesn't allow Dispatchers to think at all, only
follow cards so "no mistakes are made." The real motive behind the card
reading situation is to give the system an out "we followed protocol so it's
not our fault" is the primary motive, not any improvement in health care.
You as a dispatcher, should want some room to think, if not we should just
get rid of dispatch and install a computerized answering system, I can hear
it now "Please enter your address, followed by the pound sign."
What should offend you and make you mad is a system that FORCES you to read
cards at people when you KNOW it's not the right thing to do........
point , the sad thing is, you're absolutely right, dispatchers are not
allowed to treat things differently even though they know the situation, all
they are allowed to do is read the cards, period. I worked in dispatch for
AMR and came to the conclusion that in spite of it being a CYA thing,
designed by so called "experts", the whole flip card thing is a joke, ask
any street medic, if all you do is "follow protocol blindly" you will kill
people, the current system doesn't allow Dispatchers to think at all, only
follow cards so "no mistakes are made." The real motive behind the card
reading situation is to give the system an out "we followed protocol so it's
not our fault" is the primary motive, not any improvement in health care.
You as a dispatcher, should want some room to think, if not we should just
get rid of dispatch and install a computerized answering system, I can hear
it now "Please enter your address, followed by the pound sign."
What should offend you and make you mad is a system that FORCES you to read
cards at people when you KNOW it's not the right thing to do........
I use the EMD cards every day, and yes there is a lot of CYA, but those cards are designed for non-medically trained personal to triage a medical emergency over the phone while speaking to another non-medically trained personnel. When medically trained personnel use the EMD cards, they tend to try and diagnose and treat the patient while on the phone with them, and that doesn't work very because to treat someone you need to use all 5 senses and be near them not just go off what you have heard.
I don't follow the EMD card blindly, I use them correctly and no one has died directly from my call triaging. There is plenty of room in those EMD cards to think, while still CYA.
Obviously from working in your Dispatch Centre, you have been given a sour taste for Dispatch, but please don't take it all out on Dispatch. Dispatch is not the root of the problem. The system is broken, and there is a huge band-aid on it. We as professionals need to fix the system up from the ground up.
If you have a better way of triaging EMS calls, you better start developing and marketing it to the world. EMD is used all over the world not just in North America, it a world-renowned system that is use by several major EMS agency in the world.
Dispatchers and Medics need to stop the 'them against us' mentality if we are ever going to fix anything.
I use the EMD cards every day, and yes there is a lot of CYA, but those cards are designed for non-medically trained personal to triage a medical emergency over the phone while speaking to another non-medically trained personnel. When medically trained personnel use the EMD cards, they tend to try and diagnose and treat the patient while on the phone with them, and that doesn't work very because to treat someone you need to use all 5 senses and be near them not just go off what you have heard.
I don't follow the EMD card blindly, I use them correctly and no one has died directly from my call triaging. There is plenty of room in those EMD cards to think, while still CYA.
Obviously from working in your Dispatch Centre, you have been given a sour taste for Dispatch, but please don't take it all out on Dispatch. Dispatch is not the root of the problem. The system is broken, and there is a huge band-aid on it. We as professionals need to fix the system up from the ground up.
If you have a better way of triaging EMS calls, you better start developing and marketing it to the world. EMD is used all over the world not just in North America, it a world-renowned system that is use by several major EMS agency in the world.
Dispatchers and Medics need to stop the 'them against us' mentality if we are ever going to fix anything.
Dispatchers and Medics need to stop the 'them against us' mentality if we are ever going to fix anything.