First, First Responders
Emergency telecommunicators earn this title because their response begins before field personnel arrive.
What is the “First, First Responder”?
This system becomes the shared incident record used by calltakers and dispatchers.
What is CAD?
This communication skill requires the ETC to focus on the caller’s words, tone and background sounds.
What is active listening?
These two pieces of information should be verified early in the call in case communication is lost.
What are the location and callback number?
In this type of law, a person or organization files a claim against another party.
What is civil law?
This process measures performance against established standards.
What is Quality Assurance or QA?
This position primarily gathers, verifies and documents information from the caller.
What is the calltaker?
Automatic telephone and location information can assist the calltaker, but this action must still occur.
What is verifying the information with the caller?
“Tell me exactly what happened” is this type of question because it encourages the caller to explain the situation.
What is an open-ended question?
Calls receive priority based on this rather than simply the order in which they were received.
What is urgency?
This establishes the minimum accepted level of care and performance expected from an ETC.
What is the standard of care?
This process uses review findings to guide coaching, education and stronger future performance.
What is Quality Improvement or QI?
This position assigns resources, communicates with responders and monitors their activity.
What is the dispatcher?
This technology uses geographic data to help identify locations, jurisdictions and response areas.
What is GIS or mapping technology?
Using “B as in boy” to distinguish similar-sounding letters is an example of this communication practice.
What is clarification or verification?
Once enough critical information is available, this may begin while the calltaker continues questioning.
What is the response or dispatch process?
Duty, breach, injury or damage and causation are the four required elements of this civil claim.
What is negligence?
Recorded calls and CAD documentation, radio reviews and these daily training records provide different views of ETC performance.
What are Daily Observation Reports or DORs?
Policy, procedure and this third “P” provide structure for an ETC’s decisions.
What is protocol?
Backup equipment, alternate methods and secondary systems are examples of this ability to continue when the primary system fails.
What is redundancy?
A caller repeatedly returns to unrelated details. The ETC should calmly redirect the conversation using this skill.
What is caller control?
If new information makes an incident more dangerous, the calltaker must update CAD so this can also change.
What is the priority or response?
Call recordings, CAD entries, radio traffic and timestamps may all become this during a legal proceeding.
What is evidence?
One case review provides a snapshot, but repeated findings across several reviews may reveal this.
What is a pattern or trend?
Empathy, professionalism, teamwork and composure belong to this part of what it takes to become an effective ETC.
What is attitude?
Phone, mapping, CAD, protocol and radio systems may all touch this single event.
What is one emergency call?
ETCs may provide approved PDIs before ending a call, but they should never promise the caller this.
What is a responder ETA?
A call is not complete simply because the caller stops speaking. Required information, documentation, instructions and this should also be completed.
What is an appropriate or positive closure?
Even when duty, breach and injury are present, negligence cannot be established without this connection between the breach and the injury.
What is causation?
When several employees struggle with the same requirement, the agency should examine these broader areas before assuming every employee needs individual correction.
What are training, procedures, expectations or systems?