As we begin a new year and close the books on 2020, uncertainty, disruption, and stressful conditions continue all around us. Public safety and public health services have been pushed to their extremes throughout much of the last year. The fallout from this extended effort, with all its accompanying tension and strain, will surely be studied for years to come. Yet even before this current crisis existed, emergency telecommunicators faced many challenges. In this issue, two groups of...
Several studies explore the link between emergency response work and compassion fatigue, burnout, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In each study, the connection between the challenging and traumatic nature of the workload and its effect on the responder are explored to explain certain behaviors, or changes. This study covers a different side of the impact of the work of emergency telecommunicators. Focused on the effects of the load brought home by telecommunicators, the study outlines perceived changes family members of telecommunicators notice during their tenure as...
There is now substantial research literature on the occupational stress among emergency dispatchers from multiple studies that have cited dispatcher claims of significant emotional, mental, and physical stress as a result of their work. However, there is very little literature that ranks in order of prevalence or severity the factors contributing to overall stress specific to emergency dispatchers. The aim of this study is to collect data that will complement other research findings in this field to inform the development of new programs designed to address specific...
In 2019, of all of U.S. states/territories, only twelve require the Emergency Communications Officer (ECO) to meet hiring (character) standards, only twenty-nine require basic training standards, only twenty-three require continuing-education standards, and only twenty-four require use of pre-arrival medical instruction protocols. Furthermore, the federal government misclassifies the profession within its Office and Administrative Support occupational grouping, as opposed to the Protective Service occupational grouping. There is substantial evidence of 9-1-1 failures in...
What is your advice for selecting the correct Emergency Communication Nurse System™ (ECNS™) symptom and injury-based protocol when the patient complains of several symptoms and/or injuries? Choosing the most concerning symptom that the patient has is achieved by keeping the ABCD concepts in mind (A= Airway, B= Breathing, C= Circulation, and D = Deficit in level of consciousness). If a symptom could cause a problem in any of the ABCD areas, the nurse should pick that symptom most likely to result in the compromise...
