Two different events have occurred in my life over the last few days. Neither had anything to do with the other yet both had something in common. One was attending my biennial CPR/First Aid training; the other was an interview reference a public safety radio system upgrade. What these two very dissimilar events had in common is they got me thinking about my time as a 911 Dispatcher. Let me explain.
Last night I sat in a room with six other people. Five, plus me were there to re-certify our CPR/First Aid cards; one was the instructor. All of us worked for the same agency, but only the instructor and I were from our mobile integrated health outreach department. He and I were both EMTs. The rest of the group was made up of laypeople. They represented our counseling, crisis and medical department but none had specialized medical training. Up until this point, I had done my certification and re-certs in a public safety setting, mainly at the fire house with other EMS personnel. But, I have to say, this was the best training I've attended and it was because of the laypeople. The reason: they asked great questions. And, it wasn't only the questions. It was the fact that they were unafraid to show their lack of knowledge. They felt safe enough to admit their gaps and get the information to fill them. This felt very different from a room full of public safety professionals. It's not that we don't have the same need to learn or the same desire to learn. It just always felt like an environment where we were expected to know the answers and to show that we didn't was somehow a failure. It goes back to working in a zero mistake environment. Like my time with Fire/EMS, I felt the same restriction in emergency communications. We needed to have the answers and if we didn't, we needed to act like we did. It goes back to scene control. We need to present that air of control, but unfortunately it seemed to permeate even into the training environment. What last night’s class showed me was how nice it was to be able to be in a classroom without the expectation that you have it all under control. I was there to learn new skills, as well as, solidify and practice the ones I had. It was exactly the right environment for me to let my imperfect show,
The second event had me thinking along the same lines as the first in reference to being a 911 Dispatcher. During the phone call, my interviewee was explaining how a new CAD system had been installed at their county emergency communications center. Actually it wasn't a completely new system, it was an upgrade going from one designed in the 1990s to a Windows, cloud-based system. During a discussion about the challenges of rolling out a new system, the comment was made that dispatchers don't like change. One of the things the vendor did in this particular situation was have a mock station where over time the dispatchers could come and play with it. They also focused on making sure they kept things as similar as possible as far as features and functions. The concept of keeping things as close to the same and allowing familiarization made me realize that the tasks of 911 Dispatching need to be as much part of muscle memory as CPR and other high acuity activities of public safety. It's not that dispatchers are just set in their ways and don't like change, it's that change means retraining our minds and our bodies to do something we must be able to do automatically under high stress. Our flow is really important to us and a change in the flow feels uncomfortable and threatening. Any change to the system can induce a feeling of fear we will not be able to do our job correctly and that means someone could get hurt. Until it becomes second nature again, it's a threat to someone's safety and that's a big deal whether real or just perceived.
These may be just the musings of a former 911 Dispatcher who still cares very much about those who continue to wear the headset (and those who now tell me where to go), but it shows how so much of our thinking and behavior is colored by the work we do. Going back to the argument that we are not just clerical workers, ask how many secretaries would lose sleep over a new computer system. It's a real thing. It really is so much more than a job.
Michelle Perin
Michelle Perin has been a freelance writer since 2000. In December 2010, she earned her Master’s degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Indiana State University.
