On the phone to the Emergency services.

[Bon]

Ok first off im going to link this.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8121884.stm


And im going to say, it disturbed me quite a bit. I have been on the phone to the ES several times in my life, 2 of which have been life threatening. The steps I took were.

a) Tell them the situation promtly and to the point.
b) Confirm the address.
c) Discuss any over the phone treatment necessarry.


Now in this phonecall, a large section of that seemed to be the person was not giving the right info, and had to be coaxed into telling it.

My question, should people in todays day and age be taught how to talk to the emergency services? It took them 30 seconds to get to the fact he wasn't breathing. It then took another 30 seconds to establish CPR was being undertaken / be told for him how to do it.

Granted people panic in situations such as this, but all in all, this phone convo seemed very over drawn out for something which could have been easily summed up with.

"I have a man who is not breathing, is unconsious and none responsive and has a personal doctor performing CPR"
"We need an ambulance to (address)"


So should education on talking and communicating the right informaion to the ES be provided in schools? And would it make a difference?

 

[Buddha 3]

No it wouldn't make a difference.

People react differently under stress. I've seen people forget how a phone works under emergency situations.

What might help is if you teach something along the lines you describe, while introducing a severe stress factor too. That way they learn to act under stress.

Question is, do you want to put kids through something like that?

 

[3L1TE hax]

i think that children should be taught how to react properly in an emergency especially when talking to the emergency services.

to do so properly would require that the children be under stress, a simple way of doing that would be just to put a time limit on thier phone call.

 

[Bolter]

Its like training for paintball though, you can do as many drills as you want to but nothing can prepare you for the pressure of playing in the sunday club like experience can. How can you train for the big game situation?

 

[Rat]

I thought most schools did some form of first aid training in one shape or form?

regards to phoning the emergency services I've had to do the same and had nothing but help and the operator helped keep me calm whilst guiding me through the processes required.

should people be taught? not a bad idea but as people have already said everyone behaves differently in times of stress and panic.

some can be as cool and calm as you like whilst bleeding to death with a knife stuck in them. whereas others could panic and have anxiety attacks etc over a simple nudge in a car.

Doesnt the yellow pages do a guide in the front on what to do if you need to dial the 9s?

 

[Bon]

I thought most schools did some form of first aid training in one shape or form?

regards to phoning the emergency services I've had to do the same and had nothing but help and the operator helped keep me calm whilst guiding me through the processes required.

should people be taught? not a bad idea but as people have already said everyone behaves differently in times of stress and panic.

some can be as cool and calm as you like whilst bleeding to death with a knife stuck in them. whereas others could panic and have anxiety attacks etc over a simple nudge in a car.

Doesnt the yellow pages do a guide in the front on what to do if you need to dial the 9s?

Will go hunt down a Yellow book in a moment and find out. And as for holding a knife in me, ive neve rneeded to call them for myself, and I intend to keep it that way

 

[3L1TE hax]

at school in i think year 6 or so you get taught a first aid class which basically goes through CPR and analysing situations. People do behave differently under stress but teaching them atleast the basics cant harm anyone.

 

[Mactoshdog]

I thought most schools did some form of first aid training in one shape or form?

i was taught no first aid in school untill i took GCSE PE, in which we did a very basic first aid course, i would say it wasent worth the time.

as far as being taught how to talk to the ES, i dont think it would do much good, mostly because it comes down to comon sens.

you tell them whats wrong, not babble to them about nothing. you can tell kids this, but it cant realy be taught.


having said that, it couldent do any harm.

 

[Neo10367]

i just asked my 10 year old daughter whos in year 6,and they have bin shown first aid:how to do cpr,recovery position,and to phone services and other stuff,but as said ppl react in differant positions.

I myself have done a first aid course,but a few years back a nutter doing wheelies on moterbike doing about 70 hit some else on a bike,he came off hit a sign post and lost his leg,soon as i heard the crash i phoned(on the house phone) 999 and stated a conversation with the operator,when they asked if he was awake or not i panicked cause i could not get to him,thinking that the house phone would lose its signal and might not be able to get the ambulance quick enough.

So i think ppl do react differant and u never know unless you are in a situation

 

[head_-_shot]

In the link posted surely the person who was making the most mistakes was the guy working for the LA emergency services , asking things like :
" what phones number are you calling from"

although the age can matter all they really need is an ambulance at an address so asking "how old is he" and " I'm going to help you with CPR" without asking if they had already done it or are performing it are surely just wasting time ?

also the guy on the phone obviously wasn't listen to the caller , repeating things and failing to ask questions and asking ones that have already been answered indirectly.