Being sucked into dispatch.

[Frozennoodle]

I have previous dispatching experience on the LEO side of things so when the dispatch supervisor started looking around for extra help due to a recent rash of firings combined with a number of personnel going on sick leave he asked me to help out. I don't mind pitching in every now and then especially since it comes with a raise bumping me up to 16.25 but I love the street, I love my patients, I love my partners, and I love medicine. I left dispatch for a reason and I don't want to get stuck in their again. Too much office bs and drama. On my next schedule I'm only working 2 days on the street. I don't know how I feel about this. I absolutely do not want to be trapped in dispatch.

Also, part of our dispatchers duties include equipment checks, stats, paper work checks, etc. They function as shift supervisors when there isn't anyone else there and because I'll be working nights and weekends that means I'll have that bs on my shoulders especially since I'm going to paramedic school right now. Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[JPINFV]

Ask for a raise...

 

[Frozennoodle]

Ask for a raise...

They gave me one. I was at 14.50.

 

[abckidsmom]

Say no now. Once you're cross trained, you'll be their b*tch to do whatever they say.

If you don't want the added responsibility, step away from it now, this will only end badly if you don't have it in you to get all of the work done.

Now, on the other hand, if it seems like it will be fun, take it and run, but once in the comm, always in the comm, in my experience.

I know a guy who moved from VA to FL to get out of the comm center and be an anonymous medic on the streets. He still got sucked in, and now he's the uniformed EMS officer in the LEO comm center, functioning as a comm/field sup from behind a console.

You will be assimilated. Don't plug in if you don't want to be.

 

[Frozennoodle]

Say no now. Once you're cross trained, you'll be their b*tch to do whatever they say.

If you don't want the added responsibility, step away from it now, this will only end badly if you don't have it in you to get all of the work done.

Now, on the other hand, if it seems like it will be fun, take it and run, but once in the comm, always in the comm, in my experience.

I know a guy who moved from VA to FL to get out of the comm center and be an anonymous medic on the streets. He still got sucked in, and now he's the uniformed EMS officer in the LEO comm center, functioning as a comm/field sup from behind a console.

You will be assimilated. Don't plug in if you don't want to be.

I did 911 for a few years and I honestly don't mind filling in the odd shift but I feel like it's going to be one way or the other. I think I'll just talk with the dispatch supervisor and explain my feelings on it.

 

[WuLabsWuTecH]

You say you're in medic school. It's obviously up to you, but maybe it's worth it for the money until you become a medic. IF they don't let you back onto the street at that point, you'll have other options in terms of other departments and companies that you can work for, but the money will already be in your pocket!

 

[DrParasite]

911 dispatching is fun. IFT dispatching blows.

only dispatching gets old after a while. doing dispatch as your primary job with the opportunities to work the ambulance is a win/win situation.

I did EMS (ambulance work) for almost 10 years. now i'm chained to the desk, which is good, since fewer chance of getting hurt, no more working is :censored::censored::censored::censored:ty apartments or projects, and not having to work in the rain or snow or -12 degree weather.

But I got to admit, I wish my boss would let me play on the ambulance, esp on a nice clear night when the weather is around 70 degrees out. so wish i could

 

[guttruck]

Well Its like me working in the ER. Lately I've been riding a desk doing charting and order processing. All I can do now is look at everybody doing "real" work and not desk BS.:glare:

 

[WuLabsWuTecH]

Grass is always greener...

 

[katgrl2003]

I was cross trained in dispatch, and it took almost getting fired to get out of there. The final straw came when they split up me and my partner at 8pm, put me in dispatch, split up a 9pm crew to put one of them with my partner, split up a midnight crew to put one of them with the 9pm person, and the other with the full time dispatcher that I was sent to replace! She wanted out for the night because she was tired of being in dispatch, so they split up 3 crews to accommodate her. I told them after that night I never wanted to be in dispatch ever again, I was told I would be fired if I refused. They never fired me, just banned me from ever being in dispatch again (fine with me!). The best part? I was being pulled from my truck almost every shift to work dispatch, but I never got the raise for being in dispatch, since I was scheduled on a truck each shift. Be careful of going into that swirling vortex of doom... you will never get out.

 

[Sasha]

Lunch break, off on the time youre supposed to be off, a pay raise, air condition, no back breaking and a nice comfy chair? Heck yeah id dispatch.

Sent from LuLu using Tapatalk

 

[medicdan]

I'm also cross trained (but have very little experience) in dispatch, but I won't let my employer know that (SHHH!). You absolutely can put your foot down re: working dispatch, but consider this: Maintain your FT schedule on the road, but agree to come in when they're desperate. Don't allow yourself to be scheduled on the desk, but remain flexible. If you end up getting pulled in when you're not already, it's OT... the only downside is if dispatch is short while you're working the road-- you not only end up on the desk, but have to deal with one fewer truck on the road, and a partner-less truck.

OR... Keep dispatch while in medic school (good place to study if working nights), it prevents burnout during ride time, and get you back to the road when done.

 

[LucidResq]

I got sucked into 911 dispatch from working patient care (although not really the field). I miss patient care, but it's really hard to to imagine a $10/hr pay cut and losing the very nice benefits of working for they city. If you start making more moolah you often increase your standard of living. For some reason it seems like going back down to that lower standard is harder than never leaving it.

 

[alias]

If you don't want the job, don't take it. Man up. Or women up.

 

[johnrsemt]

Just remember: when you go into dispatch you have to give up 50 IQ points. I was only PT in dispatch, I only had to give up 25 IQ points.

I was put into dispatch for 3 weeks due to light duty on a knee injury. 2 weeks after going back on the street I was put back into dispatch because the street crews complained about the people that were in there, and asked for me back.

The only way to get out of dispatch was to screw up, and I refused to do a bad job; I had to finish Medic school to get out of dispatch: although a few times they would put me in dispatch at medic pay +$2.00 hr.

 

[Flightorbust]

few times they would put me in dispatch at medic pay +$2.00 hr.

That makes me mad. People are getting paid more then a medic without the 2+ years in school. Im not so much talkin about but just the rate that dispachers get in genral compaired to people on the street.

 

[LucidResq]

Although I agree people on the street need to be paid more, you have to consider that working in dispatch isn't that great and the turnover is bad - even worse than the street in many cases. They have to pay people that much to attract anyone. Look at how negatively you all see working in dispatch - how would they ever get anyone to do that job if they didn't pay more? Dispatch doesn't have the "glamor" that draws many people to work EMS in the first place either.

 

[johnrsemt]

Problem was that our company policy was $2.00 more an hour than street crews; but they didn't think about that medics got paid so much more.

I always told management that all dispatchers needed street time first; and as a quarterly refresher. So they knew/Remember what is was like on the street and they could figure out where things were.
Nothing like dispatch having a cow because a BLS truck disregards the medic and marks transporting emergent to the hospital that was in the next town; even though the hospital was only 3 blocks away. Dispatcher wrote up crew, and wanted them suspended: I got to drive the dispatcher to the ECF and to the hospital before he would believe us..

 

[Frozennoodle]

I'm spending half my time on the truck and half my time in dispatch and I'm only dispatching at night. I don't know how long I'll continue to do it for but with the current heat wave and doing my ER times I'll be happy to sit on my butt and study my drugs and do my PCR's. (for now)