Public Education

[mobey]

So how do you guys and gals suggest I go about this?

To answer this I need to know what specificaly you are trying to achieve?

[Adam Swartz]

To answer this I need to know what specificaly you are trying to achieve?

I am trying to help alleviate some of the calls that we get that could be helped by pcp's. The stubbed toe and such. I want to do it in a way that doesn't piss anybody off.

[Arizonaffcep]

Unfortunately, Arizonaffcep, this ends up with the ongoing problem of 9-1-1 being called for everything from stubbed toes to the radiation burns from the Martian Invaders' ray guns (don't ask, that one is a regular caller of at least one time a week), to the actual witnessed Cardiac Arrests with CPR in progress.

It falls on the call takers and/or dispatchers to sort it out, and they are not always successful.

True, however which is better? A stand up 24 with BS calls, or having your wages garnished for a long time because someone misinterpreted what you said. Personally, I tend to educate the public one on one, and I am very careful what I say. And I ALWAYS end an "education" encounter with, "when in doubt, call 911." We are the ones who are trained to discern an emergency from a non-emergency, not the general public. Don't get me wrong, I hate transporting people with no complaint either. But it is better than the alternative. Besides, sometimes you can have a really good conversation with them. In Arizona, there is no real mechanism in place for people who call 911 infrequently for "nothing," however PD can be used to arrest those that are chronic abusers of the system.

[mobey]

I am trying to help alleviate some of the calls that we get that could be helped by pcp's. The stubbed toe and such. I want to do it in a way that doesn't piss anybody off.

Well buddy... you are probably fighting a losing battle!

Recognise that these people aren't just calling for the toe, it is about attention. Whether it is a 16 y/o girl who is trying to get sympathy or a lonely old timer who has not seen anyone in 2 weeks, for the most part these are pshyc calls, and there is no stopping them.

As a sidenote, that is the reason I work rural, we filter out alot of that non-scence, but not all of it!

[Richard B the EMT]

I want to do it in a way that doesn't piss anybody off.

I spent 11 years as an NYC EMS 9-1-1 call taker. Perhaps it is the infamous NYC "attitude", but just asking what is going on that an ambulance is needed, is sometimes enough for you to be verbally abused on the telephones. Likewise, trying to confirm the address, cross streets, or offering instructions of what to do until the ambulance gets there.

I had been yelled at by callers for "wasting the patient's time" by asking a bunch of damnfool questions, like "Is the patient breathing?", "Is the patient awake?", or even "Confirm the address, please, is it..." As for the pre-arrival instructions, "That is NOT MY job, that is YOURS, now get here! I'm freakin' timing your ass".

One caller actually ordered me to get off my butt, off the telephone, get into the ambulance, and drive the half a block from the hospital to the patient. Admittedly, there was no way of the caller knowing that I was in the communications center, in a different borough, and that the hospital in question neither ran 9-1-1 ambulances, or inter-facility transfer ambulances, and any private ambulances he might have seen at that ER dock probably were not under the 9-1-1 system's control. Regrettably, you cannot take the time, on a 9-1-1 call, to educate them.