In case you haven't figured it out....

[armywifeemt]

I really can't stand dispatchers. At least most of them... Our dispatchers dispatch out of Michigan and we are in Ohio, and recently the one dispatcher we have that I actually kind of like apparently asked my supervisor what I looked like.... So if my supervisor *actually* did tell him I looked like a playboy centerfold, I'll probably continue to like him until one of us leaves the company...

But, I digress... I really can't stand dispatchers and that doesn't even come close to describing the pure hatred my partner has for them. There is one dispatcher for a company I will leave unnamed (not the one I currently work for though!) that, if anyone were to ever kill, my partner has said he would sell his house to pay the legal fees for their defense.

We have a chronic issue with contacting our dispatchers... we will mark, and they will either never answer, or they will tell us to "stand by" and never clear us for further radio contact. Even when they do answer, and copy our traffic, they may or may not actually remember what we told them ten minutes later... My partner frequently speaks of the fact that a person in a chronic vegetative state who is able to breathe on their own has an IQ of at least 28, and the combined IQ of all dispatchers everywhere is 3.

Anyway... my last shift, my partner and I were discussing a conversation he had with a supervisor after - for ease of explanation, we will call them "Crew 1" - walked into the main station in the middle of a shift. We almost never get sent to the main station because most of our runs are about an hour away, and we're almost always posted somewhere in our high traffic areas. The supervisor asked if dispatch knew where "Crew 1" was, and my partner answered, "No." The supervisor started to get flustered then my partner went on to explain,"We marked ourselves at station one about 10 minutes ago, but they are dispatch, so of course they have no idea where we are." The individual he was partnered with that day then came in and independently corroborated the fact that they had, indeed, marked themselves at station 1 ten minutes prior. My partner suggested the supervisor call dispatch and ask if they knew where "Crew 1" was, and the supervisor, out of a sort of morbid curiosity, I am sure, indulged. He asked dispatch where "Crew 1" was, and dispatch asked him to stand by... then, over the nextel my partner had in his hand, dispatch asked, "Crew 1, what is your location" My partner replied, "Station 1, where we told you we were ten minutes ago." Dispatch answered, "Oh, okay." then proceeded to tell the supervisor that "Crew 1" was at Station 1.

The entire time my partner is telling this story, I am alternating between nodding and laughing. Shortly thereafter we are paged out on what turned out to be our last run of the day.

When we were clear of the run, we marked ourselves with dispatch. Dispatch copied. I reminded them that we were scheduled to be off in half an hour, and had an hour commute back to Station 1. Our SUPERVISOR (we operate on a group direct connect line) came over and joked with me that he was sure they knew when we were supposed to be off. So.. I know we were heard. Dispatch never contacted us further. We cleared to Station 1. We got gas. We washed our truck. We made our cot. We cleaned the inside of the ambulance... all of this time, the nextel was within hearing range. We clocked out an hour late... I got home roughly 15 minutes later. As I am walking through the door to my house, I get a page to call dispatch. I called. They asked.... "Where are you guys?"


I about died laughing.. which was a little confusing for him, since he hadnt been party to my earlier conversation with my partner. Of course then I explained to the poor dispatcher that, having clocked out 15 minutes ago (an hour after the end of my shift), I was at home, about to take off my boots and air out my stinky sweaty feet, then I was going to kick back, relax, and forget that Private EMS existed.

He laughed nervously, apologized for not having a brain (I'm paraphrasing a little here), then we said our goodbyes and hung up.

 

[Medic2409]

I agree, well, used to agree anyway.

There were 2 people I really didn't like...not all, but a lot of, dispatchers, and not all, but a lot, of nurses. By which I mean to say, there were a number of ScaryFrightening dispatchers that were simply put either vindictive, stupid, or lazy. The few good ones usually got promoted. The same thing could be said of nurses.

Amazingly enough, my wife was a dispatcher when we met, and is now a nurse.

 

[medicdan]

Is your dispatch recorded? Have you ever worked a shift in dispatch?

 

[FourLoko]

prepare to here from at least one dispatcher about how you don't now how hard there job is and such

in other words, expect thread backfire

 

[Veneficus]

In EMS there is a love hate relationship with dispatch.

The rivalry between the two is immortal.

But before you go and shoot somebody's windows out, keep in mind, neither of you really know what is going on in the world of the other one.

Dispatchers are usually locked in a cave, where they don't notice things like weather, you don't insert urinary catheters when you log on, you actually do physical work which takes time, you cannot teleport and must actually drive there, and have to eat from time to time.

Most field providers don't realize that dispatchers are asked to do more tasks at one time than most people can commonly do at any level of proficency. Usually with many people, from supervisors to callers making a host of demands.

Their job also requires them to interact with you. Often by telling you what to do or where to go. (It is sort of like hearing voices that you feel compelled to obey)

The good dispatchers are ones that can balance the demands on them with the limitations of the crews. Many don't get that at all, and think as long as they are proficently doing what they are supposed to then that is the peak of performance.

I have never, nor will ever work in dispatch. I would feel so dirty I would never be able to wash it off.

Welcome to EMS, offer up a curse to dispatch, and just learn to laugh them off. (after you go where the voices tell you of course )

 

[Mountain Res-Q]

I think everyone is missing an important component of the original post here:

blah blah blah... recently the one dispatcher we have that I actually kind of like apparently asked my supervisor what I looked like.... blah blah blah... I looked like a playboy centerfold... blah blah blah...

:rofl:

Forgive me... I am a guy... it can not be helped with... at least not without medication or electroshock... :unsure:

 

[armywifeemt]

All im saying is it should be a prerequisite that all dispatchers everywhere work as a server and a pizza delivery driver at some point in their lives. No, ive never worked in dispatch although after roughly 30 years in ems my partner has on an occasion or two... i get that it is demanding, but they have a computer system and gps tracking that they listen to religiously when it is inconvenient to us, but seemingly ignore and/or dont use the rest of the time. I know a thing or two about multi-tasking and resource management and there are only the smallest handful of dispatchers who even come close to doing it right. My partner has actually asked them where our teleporter is and if they could give us directions on how to use it. Furthermore, he has witnessed at least one occasion in which the incompetence of a dispatcher actually killed someone...their job is actually very important, which is why it is so frustrating when they dont do it right.

 

[Veneficus]

All im saying is it should be a prerequisite that all dispatchers everywhere work as a server and a pizza delivery driver at some point in their lives. No, ive never worked in dispatch although after roughly 30 years in ems my partner has on an occasion or two... i get that it is demanding, but they have a computer system and gps tracking that they listen to religiously when it is inconvenient to us, but seemingly ignore and/or dont use the rest of the time. I know a thing or two about multi-tasking and resource management and there are only the smallest handful of dispatchers who even come close to doing it right. My partner has actually asked them where our teleporter is and if they could give us directions on how to use it. Furthermore, he has witnessed at least one occasion in which the incompetence of a dispatcher actually killed someone...their job is actually very important, which is why it is so frustrating when they dont do it right.

As a non dispatch tainted field provider, you are of course still obligated to give grief to dispatchers

 

[armywifeemt]

Removing accidental repost

 

[MochaRaf]

I think everyone is missing an important component of the original post here:



:rofl:

Forgive me... I am a guy... it can not be helped with... at least not without medication or electroshock... :unsure:

I am right there with ya brother, except on my end it looked more like this.

Blah blah blah... tell him I looked like a playboy centerfold, ...blah blah blah...

 

[shfd739]

Dispatch is dispatch. Some are better than others- just like medics. They are under a microscope because everything they do wrong is heard, felt or seen by the crews.

I learned real quick not to pick fights with "Headquarters". Scratched their backs a few times and the favor was returned 10 fold.

I dispatched 911 vollie fire/EMS which became paid EMS for 6 years. Some of the funnest days were juggling the EMS channel, keeping a bunch of redneck chop and squirts under control on the fire channel and making phone calls all at once.

 

[nicolel3440]

Sorry to hear so many people have problems with dispatchers. In our area we have awsome dispatchers. They can dispatch the call cover them answer everyone while makeing phone calls for police, and fire to tow trucks, electric providers and so much more.

 

[abckidsmom]

The job I had the most fun at in my whole career was dispatching. Busy urban system, playing the best video game ever.

Now, I like to gripe and complain about our dispatchers as much as possible. There is possibly not a stupider group of people on the planet, especially if you judge by the moaning and complaining of the field personnel.

 

[armywifeemt]

I guess the bottom line for me is this... some dispatchers seem to handle things better than others... they they can keep straight where their crews are, how much they are running which crews, they understand when a crew needs food, gas, supplies from station etc etc etc... and people still show up for runs in a timely fashion. Other dispatchers, essentially, turn everything into a cluster:censored::censored::censored::censored:. Why are the ones turning everything into a cluster:censored::censored::censored::censored: still employed? If i screw something up, not just once, but multiple times, i will probably be out on my *** looking for a new job. Are dispatchers that hard to find/train? Im making decisions that could potentially impact someones health and/or well being.... taking calls and managing resources sounds comparatively... well... easy. If the work load is more than any one person can be expected to handle proficiently, hire more dispatchers. Still, what it comes down to in my estimation... if you cant handle the heat, stay the heck out of the fire.

I really didnt mean for this to turn into a serious conversation... i more or less found it hilarious that not even four hours after having a rather amusing conversation about dispatch not having the slightest idea where we are, even after being told, a dispatcher went on to prove the point in perhaps one of the most extreme examples possible...

 

[MochaRaf]

The job I had the most fun at in my whole career was dispatching. Busy urban system, playing the best video game ever.

Haha so true! Every time I walked into the Dispatch center the guy was playing video games or watching a movie...

 

[Handsome Robb]

Haha so true! Every time I walked into the Dispatch center the guy was playing video games or watching a movie...

So? I play games on my phone or watch movies on the in-dash DVD players we have on my downtime if I'm not studying or joking around with my partner. What's your point?


Our dispatchers are rock solid. Yea we have one or two that no one particularly likes but they are all good at what they do and take their job seriously.

I've never worked in dispatch but we are required to do short shifts annually in the dispatch center as observers and like someone else said, don't knock it until you have done it. Keeping track of 15-20 ambulances isn't as easy as you would think.

Is it an excuse? No, we do our jobs they need to do theirs but don't generalize all dispatchers together because you have a sub-par dispatch crew. More than half of our dispatchers are Paramedics and the rest are all Intermediates with field experience, so saying that a prereq to work there is being on the slow side implies that all the field employees at my agency are on the slow side and I hate to be that guy but that does offend me. I also have friends that work in the dispatch center.

 

[MochaRaf]

So? I play games on my phone or watch movies on the in-dash DVD players we have on my downtime if I'm not studying or joking around with my partner. What's your point?

I wasn't knocking our dispatcher at all, as a matter of fact Ive never had any issue with any of our dispatchers. I was simply agreeing with abckidsmom that some dispatchers can multi-task really well and have a blast at it!

 

[Handsome Robb]

I wasn't knocking our dispatcher at all, as a matter of fact Ive never had any issue with any of our dispatchers. I was simply agreeing with abckidsmom that some dispatchers can multi-task really well and have a blast at it!

This, my friend, is something we can agree on. Sorry to come off snappy in my first post.

 

[MochaRaf]

This, my friend, is something we can agree on. Sorry to come off snappy in my first post.

My eyes are still watery

 

[Mountain Res-Q]

My eyes are still watery

Count yourself lucky... the last time Rob snapped at me, I had to find a therapist...