Consolidation And You

How many of you work in a consolidated center? If you’re not sure what that means, a consolidated center answers for multiple disciplines and possibly multiple agencies/departments. I’m not here to debate consolidation; this is about giving tips to handle working in a consolidated center.

Your workload varies in a consolidated center. For calltaking purposes, you don’t know if you’re going to get a cardiac arrest, followed by a less than cordial caller screaming about “those people next door and their music,” before jumping right into a decent person asking for actual help, followed by the “just send me a …” caller who doesn’t want to answer protocol questions.

This is a constant rollercoaster of emotions for you. Some of us learn to handle it by thinking that the next call is always going to be a hard call and with that expectation, we are pleasantly surprised when it’s an easy call or a transfer. Some of us answer with dread every single time. Some answer while in the middle of a conversation with you by saying, “Excuse me, someone needs my help.”

The last approach is probably both the healthiest and the hardest. Maintaining the drive to help others takes a mind-shift and active work on your part to not let the calls get to you. The variety will keep you from getting overly bored. Boredom causes you to make mistakes and wears down your enthusiasm and purpose. How do you fend off boredom? Learning and room awareness.

Learning is reviewing your protocols and policies. Those Rules, Axioms, and examples provided will help you keep the medical, fire, and police protocols straight. Is a call best handled with EMD or EFD? The protocol Rules will tell you, but if not, local policy will direct your actions. Additional resources include taking classes on the IAED Learning Portal (the College of Emergency Dispatch) that aren’t mandated as part of your continuing education.

Practice, practice, practice. If you’re shaky on a protocol, run a test case. For those who don’t know how to with ProQA^®, follow these instructions:

• Go to File and select Show “New Case” Button.
• Click on the green plus sign.
• Enter address, phone number, caller name, and problem description—STOP there.
• Before moving forward, click on the asterisk * symbol on the right of the Chief Complaint.
• A pop-up will appear with “You have marked this as a Test Case. Is that correct?” 
  Note: A “Yes” choice cannot be undone. Click “Yes.” This is now a test case.

If you’ve read some of my columns, you’ll know I believe that the first time you are using a protocol (like the high-acuity, low-frequency ones) should not be during an incident. Sometimes you may feel a little uncomfortable practicing in front of your co-workers, or the conversations taking place are more interesting than practicing, but you need to take the time to learn for yourself and improve your performance. High-acuity, low-frequency calls almost always generate an after-action review, and *you* are now being studied on your performance.

Room awareness is knowing that calltaking is part of the process. When you hang up as a calltaker, you could be done with that call, but that caller may not be done with you. A future call could be someone with an update to an existing call or a frequent caller. If you keep an eye on the calls occurring, when that callback happens, you’ll know about it.

Room awareness will help you if you are a cross-discipline telecommunicator going to a radio talk group later in the shift or turning it over to the oncoming shift. Part of room awareness is talking to each other. A room full of people not talking and doing their own thing helps no one because every person is so focused on their lane and their actions that they are not seeing the big picture, the pieces of the quilt making up a communication center.

Consolidated radio centers have an advantage. Everyone is in the same room so if you have questions or need something, it’s a verbal, “Hey, I need xyz” instead of making a phone call, waiting for someone to answer, explaining the situation, and then hanging up. The verbal component benefit cannot be overstated with having fire/EMS in the same room as law enforcement. Instant communications has been a blessing for us. If an ambulance crew needs law enforcement help right now, there’s a few seconds less delay in getting the help started. If law enforcement needs EMS to expedite or gives detailed information that fire/EMS needs, it’s right there in the same room and relayed faster. Everyone is on the same page. There may be some missed notes because no system is perfect, but for the most part, it really helps. I’ve worked both non-consolidated and consolidated, and I prefer consolidated.

Working with each other helps you handle stress. If you do not use an Automatic Call Distributor and have to pick up the lines, I’ve seen situations where the Emergency Fire Dispatchers (EFDs) will take the 911 calls, and the Emergency Police Dispatchers (EPDs) will take the business lines. The drawback is you don’t get the calls you need to improve, and you still remain uncertain in your handling. With unassigned positions, I’ve seen EPDs and EFDs deliberately sit near each other or next to an experienced calltaker who can help them out. Ask questions and support each other. You are one of each other’s best resources.

Preparation is the key to consolidation; if you are prepared to take anything on the next call, it won’t be as traumatic as you think. Some radio dispatchers think calltaking is a break from the stress of the radio; some calltakers think the radio is a break from the stress of the phones. Sometimes you can have a happy medium. I’ve heard dispatchers say they were glad to go to calltaking after the drubbing they took on the radio. I’ve heard the opposite because they’re tired of talking to callers.

Does your center switch positions if it is consolidated? Half the shift on the radio, half the shift on the phone? A recent example from my center showing the benefit of this practice was when someone took three cardiac arrests in four hours, all three of which did not have positive outcomes. It wore them down, and at the halfway point of the shift, this person switched to a different position. Having that change and getting away from the phones helped. While we can’t pick what calls we get with an Automatic Call Distributor, taking breaks or supervision making assignments for half-shifts keeps people fresh.

Consolidation does expose you to calls you wouldn’t handle otherwise. You may need to learn a new protocol language and handle calls you haven’t dealt with before. Sometimes the unknown can cause anxiety, but practicing, sitting near someone experienced, and reviewing the protocols, Rules, policies, and Axioms can help take some of that unknown away. If you have a peer support team or Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) team, feel free to talk to them about your concerns. Your supervisor may be a resource for you. Reach out to connect with other centers and other telecommunicators. You can create a large support network full of help and subject matter experts. The point is that you are the driver, and you control your feelings and actions in a consolidated center.