Saturday, January 14, 2006

You ask...I answer

I got two questions in the comment section of my last post and I was going to answer them in the comments section but it is kinda a long expliantion so I will make a post of it. The first one hase to do with response codes that we use in my system. We have six diffrent response code that we use. The response designations are used for what we were told is "priority dispatching". Apparently when the 911 call comes in the dispatchers ask certian questions pertaning to what ever the call is about. Like for instance a MVA call they (the caller) would get asked "how many vehicles involved "is there anyone trapped in the vehicle" and "is the patient awake" And how the questions are answered is how they designate the response code. Alpha is for very minor things they we would not run code to like a lac or sick party with no prioridy symptoms. Bravo and Charlie are for like minor MVAs with injuries and ABD pains. These we run code to. Delta is stuff like unreponsives, entraptments, SOB and CP, these are most likely a bit more serious. And Echo is for like cardiac arrest or uncertian breathing type of situations. CAT one type of things. The only diffrence we see on the streets is Alpha which we dont run hot to and Bravo,Charlie ect...which we do. there is also an Omega reponse, which is hardly used it kind like an Ultra Alpha call, public assist kind of thing So it's more for the dispatchers and their record keeping and helps them deterime if say fire or police need to be dispatched with us. It does kinda let the street people know how serious the call could potentially be. you could have a bravo reponse CP, which is not as serious according to thier questionaire as say a Delta reponse CP. Now of course this all depends on how the caller answeres the questions. They might know the rules of the game and know the right answeres to get a bus there quicker. ..or so they think. Some of our county is also cover by QRVs or Quick response vehicles. These are SUVs that are not transport units. There a manned with one paramedic crew cheif. Some of the popluation referes to it the as "The No Go Truck" as in you ain't going nowhere. They are used either as a first reponder for bad calls, or as a medic called to basiclly bullshit Alpha calls that doesn't need transport. It helps keep the transport unit 10-8 for potentially real calls.

As for the second question....It has to do with our shifts. We have 15 transport units that cover our entire county. Of the 15, 7 are 12 hour trucks, 7a-7p and 7p-7a. These are the busy trucks that cover the city and north area. Their call volume can shift from 5 calls in 12 hours to as many as 15+. The Downtown truck is the busiest, I have run 15 calls in a night a few times. The shifts are like Sat, Sun, Mon your work your12 the off Tues, Weds, then work Thurs Fri. The next week it swtiches. You have 12 hours off between your shift days working. The other 8 trucks are 24 hour shifts. You work 24, off 48. These are the outlying, slower trucks. Some won't turn a wheel all shift and some might run 10 or 12 in 24 hours. Really depends on where you are. The colser to the city the more calls you run. As for what makes a 12 hour truck depends on call volume. They count how many calls you run during your shift in a 6 month period. If you run more than a certian number consistanyl for severl 6 month periods the truck goes from a 24hour truck to a 12. This dosn't happen very offen. All but 2 trucks have a station. We have 2 roaming trucks that cover all over. Like if the three north area trucks so out the they send one of the roamers there same goes for the south districts and so forth. The stations are all like mini apartments with kitches and bedrooms and we are allowed to asleep on duty. To help with fatugue on duty sometime crews can switch out with slower trucks so that they can rest. Like if you crew member worked 24 hours on a faster truck and then picked up a 12 OT shift they can go out to the islands and sleep for a couple hours. We cannot work more than 48 hours on a slow truck or 36 on a fast one. and you have to have at least 12 off between each stretch. Like I just got off a 36 hour shift today. I can't be forced back in until tommorow morning. And being Forced is a whole other monster of it's own. That would take me another whole page to explain. But basiclly it's foced overtime. We can get called back into work. And there is 12 pages on it in the policy manual. Lists and rules and all kinds of shit. Too much to try and explain here. So thare you have it. The answers.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You did a very good job explaining both your dispatch and scheduling models. I really gained a clear picture.
Here we work 24's and have some similar disparities in the work load on the trucks. My station can do 10-15 calls in 24 hrs. while the other 2 (we only have three) may do none. Nobody is supposed to do more than 72 hrs. straight. We cover about 600 sq. miles and approximately 40,000 people; one small city, one small university, and a really big forest. Our dispatch takes the call and defines the chief complaint to the EMS unit. The responding EMS unit (or the supervisor) decides what additional response is made, if any.

No

Anonymous said...

Oh. Incidentally...do you have a difficult time explaining your schedule to your friends with "straight" jobs?

No

Anonymous said...

Oh. Incidentally...do you have a difficult time explaining your schedule to your friends with "straight" jobs?

No

painter in hiding said...

Na...They know my schedule is screwed up. When I worked in the ER I worked nights...and now they know to plan parties and other get togethers at least a week in advanced if I am to attend.