The games sound fun, actually.

Perhaps you could sneak mags in by using covers only of work related magazines? For example- hide a copy of Hello behind a cover of Ambulance Control Today. Extra covers of allowed mags could be kept in the break room/cafeteria/empty locker. Whichever is handiest/easiest to hide from those in charge.

We used to do this quite often in school & always worked like a charm.

i do the same as amanda. and found it works a treat until another member of the team picked up the computer mag to read and found out it was a landrover monthy. now we both do it and the rest of the staff have not a clue.

just be carefull of where you leave a hidden mag

We’ve had an EMDC [Emergency Medical Despatch Centre] for as long as I remember (admittedly not very long!). The theory is that they don’t really have much ‘control’ over what the crews on the ground are doing!

I must have a good watch coz the no book rule hasn’t been enforced yet!! Love the Bingo idea - will introduce that on my next night shift. We spend a lot of time playing “if you could be a ???, what would you be?” Started off easy with things such as superheros and then got obscure with things like what type of cheese would you be. You had to give a reason for each answer. Paper aeroplanes are always fun aswell.

And if all else fails then the chairs are quite fun to play with for 5 minutes - or changing someone elses chairs settings when they are on break!!

I suppose the problem is that the person calling has rehearsed in their head all the things they want to tell you - they want to make sure you get all the information they think is relevant.

If you can’t get it out of your head immediately it can get in the way of thinking about what you’ve just asked them.*

Maybe a better idea is to write off the first 10 seconds of a call - let them talk for a bit, whilst you pick out one piece of information that’s relavant. Then you can ask the questions…

This would, however, involve you using your initiative. I can’t see any management-type liking that

*Once, calling the police at 4am after I was woken by screaming from a flat on a road around the corner, they asked me almost immediately to spell the road name - Corona Road. I was more worried that this woman was dying, and at 4am, groggy with sleep, I couldn’t spell my own name. I ended up going C R O R… err, sod it, like the soft drink to the great amusement of the call taker. (Woman was OK - off her meds and a little paranoid in the night).

I really don’t understand the logic behind taking magazines off you - what do the powers that be think is happening?

“Nee Naw Control, hang on while I finish the chapter”

*scratches head*

When I worked in the EMDC (Fancy new name for Scottish CAC) we used to play games on the night shift too, there was one game called “Stop the bus” where you would write the name of a person in CAC and then pass it on and someone else would write an action and pass it on, all the time these would be covered over as you would fold the paper onto itself. This would go on until you got to the end of the list of things to do, usually 1= name, 2= action, 3= place, 4= with second person, 5= wearing clothing etc you would normally do 10 things. This made for some interesting reading when you had finished. We also played the guess the illness / complaint and also had to come up with songs which could be used for specific complaints if you were putting a patient / calller on hold…

Staying Alive?

Can’t believe the book thing! Do they think your mind will be sharper and ready for a major at 0400 after staring at the windowless walls for 2 hours. Management in this firm are bonkers! Perhaps turnover in CAC still isn’t high enough for them

Slip Sliding away - Simon and Garfunkle
Where the streets have no name - U2
Everybody hurts - REM
If I fell - The Beatles
The first cut is the deepest - Cat Stevens

I like this game!!

It threw me when I actually had to call 999 myself last week having actually witnessed an accident. I was all ready to give the address when the I was asked what had happened.

Not nearly as suprised as I was when the young lady asked me which card to use!!!

Hi Mark

I work as a call taker for the Ambulance Service too and when we are bored (typically between 0200 - 0800 like yourself) we choose to play ‘Let’s see what you are going to die from’……which consists of flicking quickly through the medical dictionary and asking your colleagues to tell you when to stop, open the page and then randomly point to an ailment….that’s what they will die from!! Lots of fun even though many people don’t die from earache…….PS We still have our mags and have all now invested in portable DVD players at our desks, as the management removed the DVD connectors from the large ORCON plasma TVs when they released that we were watching Little Britain Series One instead of concentrating on our ‘A’ response times!!