Andre Jones

The International Academies of Emergency Dispatch® (IAED^™) has determined that quality is “conformance to requirements,” according to the Performance Standards 10^th Edition, but who determines what is required? Most often, the customer (or community) determines the “standard of care,” and these standards are dependent on circumstances. We define the quality of services, therefore, by listening to the voice of the customer. Why not listen to the voice of the employee to define the quality of employees? This concept, often used in commercial call centers, suggests that job commitment and job satisfaction improve employee engagement and the employee experience and, consequently, improve organizational commitment and operational effectiveness improve.

Let me explain …

Public safety is of prime importance to our emergency dispatch community. We should be inspired by our community and use that inspiration to make a positive impact on the community’s public safety experience. Every interaction is an opportunity to learn, improve, and impress. But we cannot be empowered if we are not satisfied or committed.

So why are we not satisfied or committed?

Research suggests that a lack of job satisfaction and organizational commitment in emergency dispatch is due to unmet expectations and the list is not short: benefits, policies, management and supervision, work autonomy and process, opportunity, training, growth and development, teamwork, technology, and even retirement. The unmet expectations lead to non-engaged employees and ultimately affects their well-being. How can employees effectively serve if they are unhappy and not part of decisions affecting their career? Research suggests that when employees are less engaged, operational effectiveness diminishes. This is mostly quantitative research, remember people do not talk in numbers, so it’s paramount to understand staff needs, wishes, hopes, preferences, and aversions, in their own words.

Public safety telecommunications leaders need to listen to the voice of the employee to create understanding and collaboration. We must ask questions like “How can I help?” or “What do you need?” This is how we gain perspective.

Despite having an organizational mission and vision, employee needs go beyond that in requiring physical, psychological, social, and/or organizational support to achieve work goals. Their feedback must be considered valuable and actionable without a lot of strategic direction.

An employee came to me and said he understood that the calltaker performance was being monitored in terms of answer speed, queue time, duration of calls, and abandoned calls. The employee told me that he became frustrated when callers were not prepared with the information he needed to help, which he felt contributed negatively to how long it took to answer calls, resulting in longer queuing times and more abandoned calls. He suggested adding a voice prompt in the interactive voice response phone system that asked callers to kindly have their patient’s identification information ready in preparation to speak with an agent.

I could have not been more pleased with this suggestion. Even though I originally designed all the scripts and found all types of reasons why the performance indicators were unstable, I never considered this option after more than a year of implementation of the new phone system. In less than 24 hours I added the new script and, in a week, call handling times decreased by 10 seconds. This was a win for both the customers we serve and the employees.

While cakes, cookies, and awards/recognition are good motivators, they are not sustainable mediators of employee well-being. When employees have a safe and respectful work environment, evolving best practices, supportive supervision, low cynicism, efficient work processes with non-cumbersome technology, and reasonable job strain with a reasonable work-life balance, there is a greater chance that they will be happy. Happy employees will deliver better service.

Kevin Pagenkop, ENP

For those with a medical background, one of the first acronyms learned is “PPE.” Whether gloves, a gown, or eye protection, Personal Protective Equipment is vital for responders and clinicians to reduce their exposure to pathogens and potential hazards. The use of PPE is one of the primary steps taught, and evaluated, during initial certification training assessments as well as all continuing education. It is built so strongly into the culture of EMS that the use of PPE becomes routine and second nature. As emergency dispatchers, what should be built into our culture with the hope that it becomes second nature?

Think back to when you were first hired. The training was probably a blur of industry jargon; geography; CAD, radio, and phone training; as well a phonebook-sized stack of procedures and policies that had to be committed to memory. At some point, you were told that you would receive feedback on your performance through quality assurance (QA) case review and that you were required to accrue continuing dispatch education (CDE) hours. After enduring your marathon of training, where did the topics of QA and CDE get prioritized in your daily responsibilities? Sadly, QA is often dreaded, and CDE is only thought of as our certifications get ready to expire.

The value of continuing education is that it is continuing. Athletes aren’t going to stay in shape or build muscle if they only go to the gym once every two years. Would you want paramedics providing treatment to you or a family member if their only efforts to develop their skills were the bare minimum requirements to remain employed? As certified emergency dispatchers, don’t we too need to value the importance of improving our skills and increasing our ability to provide higher quality service—to both our responders as well as the public? Expecting someone else to provide this for us is not the most effective means of mastering the responsibilities of our job.

We need to change our culture, from day one during initial training, to highlight the value and importance of self-improvement. Personal development. Proactive training. Proactive Personal Education. The emergency dispatcher’s “PPE.”

If only the bare minimum of CDE is completed, are we prepared to take the call from the mother with an unresponsive baby, the caller trapped in her house that is on fire, or the person reporting that he is in imminent danger of being assaulted? If our understanding of QI tells us it’s the supervisor’s job to prompt us to review QA, or that it is our trainer’s job to direct us to review emergency protocols, then we’re learning by trial and error—and often on live calls. This creates needless stress and frustration as we stumble our way through high-acuity and high-emotion calls. At our worst, this increases the probability for poor incident outcomes and potential litigation. The emergency dispatcher’s version of PPE protects telecommunicators from potential hazards and dispatch danger zones by preparing us, ahead of time, to competently and confidently handle difficult or infrequent calls (like the PAI, ECHO, and CID cases referenced above).

Take the initiative to improve your skills. Take an active role in your own development. Be proactive. Here are some ways to develop your own PPE.

Proactive Personal Education can reduce stress, compassion fatigue, and fear as we focus on building our abilities and confidence—continually—like athletes building their bodies one gym visit at a time. Just like an EMT shouldn’t need to be told to put on gloves at the scene, emergency telecommunicators should apply their PPE, routinely, as a daily component of learning, growing, and mastering their role in providing emergency service.