Agreed to a degree. Asking the phone number is daft as they all have caller id on those lines. When I've had to ring 999 they've passed me to the Emergency Service I've requested and read my phone number out as they've passed me over. Although admittedly the US might be a little different.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.
It does sound sloppy but he could just be trying to keep the guy talking and already have an Ambulance on route. When my wife was pregnant with our son she collapsed at home with stomach cramps. Within 2 minutes there was a knock at the door as the Ambulance had already been dispatched by the Emergency Service operator, but they kept me talking to find out as much as possible which was all passed over to the Ambulance crew whilst they were on route.