On January 19, 2020, relaxing in his Snohomish County living room and watching the early news reports about Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China—the city he'd just returned from—the patient became concerned. He had not been feeling well and decided to go to his primary care physician. Shortly after arriving at the physician's office, his doctor contacted the Health District Officer. They drew a blood sample and overnighted it to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lab in Atlanta. The patient went home to...
As I write this from my workplace office—realizing I'm one of only a few people in our organization who's not working from home this week—I feel it's important to recognize that most emergency dispatchers don't get to choose the work-from-home option. If that's you, then you know the drill; you must brave going out of the house, working side-by-side with your co-workers, practicing social distancing the best you can, wearing your mask whenever possible, disinfecting your workspace frequently, and enduring all the other risks...
Emergency dispatchers report significant job stress, yet few controlled investigations examine their specific psychological complaints. Additionally, research examining the use of interventions directed at alleviating their work-related stress is limited. This study aims to examine the efficacy and feasibility of a mobile application (PTSD Coach) on various indicators of psychosocial well-being among emergency telecommunicator dispatchers. A sample of 117 emergency dispatchers attending the 2018 NAVIGATOR conference agreed to...
Where do you work? Madison County Fire Department Communications, Huntsville, AL, USA. As manager, I oversee operations for 14 full-time employees; handle all policy development, training program development, and quality assurance/quality improvement program oversight; and am a liaison with 16 volunteer fire chiefs and other public safety officials. What are the parts of your job that connect with research? I regularly analyze data in decision-making in all fields identified above. My recent research project published in AEDR...
When evaluating the information provided by 911 callers, Emergency Police Dispatchers (EPDs) use scripted protocols to ensure that important details are not missed and that questions are not omitted. Specifically, at the beginning of the call, EPDs ask callers to "Tell me exactly what happened" (TMEWH). Since EPDs must select the correct Chief Complaint (CC) Protocol based on the caller's response, getting a complete response to TMEWH—and interpreting it correctly—is one of the most significant elements of an EPD's job. However, no studies have yet evaluated the use of TMEWH in gathering...
Historically, 911 professionals have not received specialized training in dispatch and call management related to mental crises and suicidality. This lack of training may contribute to lack of confidence and elevated anxiety in successfully handling these call types. A new model of training, Emergency Mental Health Dispatching™ (EMHD), which aims to equip 911 professionals to manage these calls has been developed to address this need. The objective of this case study was to measure the impact of EMHD via two specific aims. The first aim...
