Dispatch Improvement

It’s a stormy night, the roads are slick and as you’re driving home, your car loses control and smashes into a tree. As you start to come around, you notice something is wrong, as a matter of fact, your arm can’t move. Something isn’t right, time to call 9-1-1 and get help before it gets worse. As you wrestle your way to your phone, you hear the sound of sirens in the background and before you know it, there’s a fire truck and ambulance there to help you.

How did the firetruck and ambulance figure out where you were? There were no other cars around you when you crashed. Remember when you bought your car and the salesman at the dealership was overselling this feature called OnStar? Well, when your car ran off the road, OnStar was able to figure out that you were in an accident and based on the GPS and speed information your car sent, Onstar was able to pinpoint your location and make an estimate regarding your level of trauma by analyzing how fast the speed and direction of your car changed.

Now, let’s look at this from the stance of the PSAP. Technology has become continuously more prevalent in our lives. With the increase in technology, is an increase in the amount of media people are able to send to each other. Cell phones are able to send pictures, video, text messages, along with phone calls. It’s a mistake for PSAPs not to embrace this new technology. With this new technology, PSAPs allow new ways for people to contact 9-1-1, such as text messaging, which is a great resource for people who are in situations where calling 9-1-1 would be dangerous. Instead of risking being caught calling the police, Angela can discreetly send a text message to 9-1-1 saying…

“My husband is threatening me with a knife. Send help to 18311 W 10 Mile Road.”

Also, citizens can send in pictures and video to 9-1-1. With these assets, police can review footage of the last fight at Buddy’s Bar and Grill to see who needs to go to jail. 9-1-1 can also receive pictures of an odd colored smoke floating through the air in an attempt to provide a more accurate description and advice to the caller on how to keep themselves safe.

If there’s one thing the 21st century has taught us at Equature, it’s that technology is constantly changing. Instead of shying away from the change, we have embraced it and are committed to providing a recording interface that will log all information your PSAP receives and organize it into a simple interface to allow for easy access when you need it.

A communications center is a unique environment that most of us of come to love, while at the same time many of us hate it.  With these feelings boiling inside of us simultaneously, we often move from one to the other during the same shift. Incorporating some practical skills and taking time to focus on this topic will help in resolving this issue.

What is the attitude of your communications center? Is it a good attitude or bad attitude? A center’s attitude is the same as the general attitude of the employees and management.  Do employees generally go above and beyond to help a caller?  Do you take a few extra seconds when you have them to help a person out?  You may have started with a good attitude that has now turned into a bad attitude. The most important factor about attitude is to understand that your attitude is yours, and you can change it. You have no one to blame but yourself.

When conflict arises in your center, ask yourself; Why are you having this conflict? Is this issue really important?  Do you have to be right? What is the interest of the other person involved? Have you listened to what they are saying? Many of us think that we are listening when we simply are not.

Some contributing factors to the conflict may be the following:  If you are always first to explain your side. Second, not listening and third, the fear of not being right. Some suggestions to improve conflict situations are to “eat crow” (eat your words) and say you are sorry. A simple reasonable conversation could help resolve the conflict and allow you to move on. Some other things to keep in mind when dealing with conflict are to avoid the rumor mill – it is never beneficial, do not over react, be realistic with your expectations, stop playing games, and confront conflict immediately.

To successfully resolve a conflict, you will need to learn and practice two core skills: the ability to quickly reduce stress in the moment and the ability to remain comfortable enough with your emotions to react in constructive ways even in the midst of an argument or a perceived attack.  Take a minute to think about it, breath, relax, and respond to the issue in a constructive way.

Remember, if you have conflict look at what part you are playing in that conflict. It takes two.