New Victim
One of the superintendents came up to me yesterday and handed me a pair of blue epaulets.
“These are for your trainee,” she told me.
“But I don’t have a trainee!” I said, confused.
“Oh yes you do,” she said. “She starts tomorrow.”
So it looks like I have been given another chance to pass my bad call taking habits on to a new generation. Wish me luck!
on February 19th, 2007 at 7:13 am
Good luck.
on February 19th, 2007 at 10:01 am
Good luck, I know how hard it can be with a trainee,
on February 19th, 2007 at 11:19 am
Good luck!
on February 19th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Good luck, especially to your new trainee!
on February 19th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
You do realize what this means, don’t you? You didn’t do nearly as badly with the last one as you tried to make us believe. Which is what I suspected all along. So you have been warned: we’re not going to believe a word you say about the awfulness of it all this time around.
on February 19th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
quixote took the words from my mouth - you must be good or they wouldn’t ask!! hehe! good luck!!
on February 20th, 2007 at 4:35 am
Good luck!
Waiting for a post about her start. Btw, what are the epaulets for? Is this some sort of a distinction (something that has to be worn) thing to tell trainees apart from the rest of the staff?
on February 20th, 2007 at 11:39 am
Enjoy!
Regards
Nick
http://nickhough.blogspot.com
on February 20th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
Speaking of bad call-taking, this comment in The Times today features that dreaded phrase ‘the ambulance is on its way’ - and a lot of other things you might get annoyed by
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/richard_morrison/article1407734.ece
on February 20th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Yeah, there’s a couple of things in that article that don’t ring true to me, esp the Dreaded Phrase. They also lay the blame solely on the shoulders of the NHS, and not on the rubbish calls that we have to deal with, though I suppose in a way that is the NHS’s fault too for not letting us refuse people.
I should email that article to anyone who calls an ambulance for trivial rubbish, and show them exactly who they are depriving of help.
I don’t know why a fire engine turned up either.
on February 21st, 2007 at 12:33 pm
I have read the Times article. If you see in the comments section at the bottom of the page, someone, quite rightly points out the possible, many reasons, why an ambulance was not available - because of time wasters, the people that use and abuse the service. I totally agree with you Mark, the NHS should allow the ambulance service to turn people with minor complaints away.
As for “bad call taking” the call log allows the call taker to see if a vehicle has been despatched. In times where the patient/caller are hysterical, it can be very reassuring to be told a vehicle is on it’s way. Unfortunately in this case, it appears the said vehicle was called off, for a higher priority call. It’s easy to judge and say “Oh you should never tell them the ambulance is on it’s way” but there are times and instances when it is necessary and helpful. I’m surprised that there remained a long delay even after the family being called back to check on the patient’s condition, but again, you can not judge as we don’t know what situation the sector was in on that night and the nature of calls being held.
on February 21st, 2007 at 12:49 pm
There are only two reasons I would say “the ambulance is on its way” 1) on something like a suspended or unconscious patient when I am trying to get the relatives/bystanders to do something, and they won’t listen to me until I reassure them that help has been sent or 2) when someone is alone with a patient, and needs to leave the patient to meet the ambulance. I would never say the dreaded phrase for a call that wasn’t Cat A. I find a lot of callers interpret standard phrases as “help is being arranged” and “talking to me won’t delay the ambulance” as “the ambulance is on its way” as often they think they have been told that when an ambulance isn’t and has never been on the way.
Am very surprised too that the call was still held after the patient became unconscious. Maybe it wasn’t held as long as the person thought - I’ve noticed before that the sicker the patient is, the longer the caller thinks they have been waiting!
on February 21st, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Many, many years ago (cue the Commandant from Police Academy) a controller of some renown would frankly tell people that they were not getting an ambulance in no uncertain terms.
He had years of experience and common sense and to the best of my knowledge never came a cropper. He had been on the road for a number of years before switching to control and despatch so could see crews on jobs in his minds eye.
I dont know how he would have coped today or how long he would have lasted. As I,ve said before I could,nt work in control as I would be sacked on the first day.
on February 21st, 2007 at 6:34 pm
As I,ve said before I could,nt work in control as I would be sacked on the first day.
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I know how you feel, sort of. I worked on recpetion at an A&E Department and I was forever wanting to say, what the hell made you think you needed to come here today?! People that came up and said “oh he/she just needs some of those paper stiches” used to drive me mad, I really wanted to yell “well you can buy steri strips in Boots so off you pop”. I only once told someone they didn’t need to be seen, some woman who was worried about the “black spot” on her arm, post flu jab. When I showed her my arm (conveniently post flu jab too) she soon learnt she just had a bruise…