Shawnee Co. Dispatch Hires Temporary, Fully Qualified Dispatchers to Ease Staffing Shortages

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Shawnee Co. dispatchers will soon have temporary outside help as the agency tries to attract and train more dispatchers, as agency leaders report a satisfactory rating for the AMR “nurse navigation” system .

Topeka/Shawnee Co. AMR offered county commissioners an update on the program on Monday, October 28.

Nursing navigation evaluates lower pop-up calls and redirects them to more specific responses. For example, can a situation be resolved with instructions over the phone, or could a potential patient be brought in via a third-party rideshare instead of an ambulance or with the help of a friend?

The program was implemented 18 months ago to help the county’s AMR services save resources and offer patients in need of emergency or urgent care a way to save money.

“With the rideshare portion that is covered by the nurse navigation program that is subsidized by the county and AMR. That trip is free,” said Jon Antrim, regional director of Topeka AMR. “You know there may still be a bill at the end of urgent care, but it’s significantly less than the emergency department bill.”

Jon Antrim, Topeka AMR regional director, says the system has a portal so patients can call back, have a code or use their smartphone to request transportation back to their residence or include a stop at the pharmacy when end of the day or the end of your visit.

Based on information AMR collected from patients who completed a survey about their satisfaction with the experience, it generated an overall rating of 4.8 out of 5 for the program.

However, Antrim says there is one thing he would like to improve: educating the community about care.

“I think one of the areas we can improve is community education,” Antrim said. “You’re still getting attention, right? You’re just getting the right care and that’s what we really need to do because we still see a large portion of the population that refuses to use the system and still wants to be transported by ambulance to the emergency department when they don’t have a life-threatening emergency. life.”

Public Information Officer Abigail Christian with the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office reports that the call center typically has approximately three to four dispatchers on duty depending on the shift, although they prefer to have five or six dispatchers per shift.

Three dispatchers are currently being trained and six to eight new employees are expected to begin training in the next 30 days.

Before the dispatch was able to train and replace one or two positions at a time, but earlier this year, Christian says the dispatch lost five dispatchers in 30 days.

It takes more than 6 months to train a new dispatcher.

To help mitigate staffing shortages, AMR will soon be assisted for the first time by fully qualified, on-demand temporary dispatchers in the coming weeks.

“By contracting with a private entity for temporary, on-demand, fully qualified dispatchers, we can immediately address this temporary staffing shortage, while new dispatchers receive training and qualification. This service will allow for greater flexibility in scheduling our current dispatchers and accommodating holiday requests. On-demand dispatchers will also ensure the facility has adequate coverage heading into the peak cold and flu season.

The Sheriff’s Office greatly appreciates the County Commission, Department of Human Resources, and County Counsel’s Office for their collaboration and assistance in expediting the on-demand dispatcher service agreement. We anticipate seeing these new dispatchers in our communications center in the next 30 days.

We are also very grateful to our current dispatch staff for continuing to work long hours at a high level during this time.

We are currently processing several dispatcher requests and there has been a great response from the community. “Anyone interested in becoming a 911 emergency dispatcher or would like more information about this exciting and rewarding career opportunity can contact Sergeant Harmon at 785-251-2267 or [email protected].”

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