Ambulance Dispatcher

EXAM NUMBER
Y5068K

TYPE OF RECRUITMENT

Open Competitive Job Opportunity

FILING DATES:

November 22, 2023, at 8:00 A.M., (PT)

Until the needs of the service are met and is subject to closure without notice.

NO WITHHOLDS OR OUT-OF-CLASS EXPERIENCE ARE ALLOWED FOR THIS EXAMINATION

ABOUT LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SERVICES:
The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS) is the second largest municipal health system in the nation. Through its integrated system of 25 health centers and four hospitals - and expanded network of community partner clinics - DHS annually provides direct care for over 600,000 unique patients, employs over 23,000 staff, and has an annual budget of over $6.9 billion. For additional information regarding DHS please visit www.dhs.lacounty.gov.

Through academic affiliations with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Southern California (USC), and the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Sciences (CDU), DHS hospitals are training sites for physicians completing their Graduate Medical Education in nearly every medical specialty and subspecialty. In addition, to its direct clinical services, DHS also runs the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Agency and the County's 911 emergency response system, as well as Housing for Health and the Office of Diversion and Re-entry, each with a critical role in connecting vulnerable populations, including those released from correctional and institutional settings to supportive housing.

MISSION:
To advance the health of our patients and our communities by providing extraordinary care.

DEFINITION:
Dispatches ambulances, vans, and other vehicles to transport patients to and from County and non-County hospitals and institutions.

Determines which patients to transport separately and the priority for picking up patients at hospitals, convalescent care facilities, and patients' residences for transportation by ambulance to a County hospital for admittance, based on consideration of diagnoses ranging from less severe to more critical such as diabetic coma, drug overdose, or accident injuries.

Determines which calls to assign private ambulance companies, considering such factors as the patient's diagnosis, the trip distance, the availability of County ambulances, the total number of patients scheduled for transportation, and the need to utilize County ambulances to transport several patients on each trip.

Receives, writes, sorts, and time stamps calls for the transportation of patients to and from County and non-County hospitals and institutions by ambulance or van for admittance, outpatient clinic appointments, discharge, and the transfer from one building to another at a County hospital.

Groups calls to or from the same geographical area in Los Angeles County and surrounding counties into trips with varying numbers of patients, depending upon their diagnoses, and adds any calls for transportation to or from the hospital during his/her shift; and assigns trips to ambulance personnel.

The item is responsible for the arrangement, coordination and prioritization of transportation calls that are received by the Central Dispatch Office (CDO) of the EMS Ambulance Services section. This includes dispatching assignments to ambulance personnel made up of Ambulance Drivers and Ambulance Medical Technicians and communicating with facility staff.

The dispatcher enters data for tracking and adjudication of billing purposes.

Performs data entry and utilizes computer equipment.

Communicates with doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff to confirm or verify instructions in the transport of patients.

Decides whether or not to have a patient picked up by an ambulance en route by reviewing the routes and departure times of ambulances to estimate if any are near the patient's location and notifies the crew of an ambulance in the vicinity to pick up the patient.

Dispatches County or private ambulances to a breakdown or accident involving a County ambulance, or other transportation vehicle when necessary and sends a tow truck for the disabled County vehicle.

Train dispatchers and other related personnel in the dispatch of ambulances, vans, and other

vehicles to transport patients to and from County and non-County hospitals and institutions as assigned.

In the event of a major emergency or disaster, participates as a member of the Departmental Operations Center as needed.

Transmits and receives coded and conventional messages via voice and video communication links.

Responsible for the arrangement, coordination and prioritization of transportation calls that are received by the Central Dispatch Office (CDO) of the EMS Ambulance Services section.

This includes dispatching assignments to ambulance personnel made up of Ambulance Drivers and Ambulance Medical Technicians and communicating with facility staff. The dispatcher enters data for tracking and adjudication of billing purposes.

Heavy use of telephones, radio, and computer-aided dispatch systems (CAD). Additionally, the dispatcher arranges transport to be completed by contracted private ambulance providers whenever Ambulance Services does not have the capacity or capability (CCT, ALS level transports) to perform the transport.

Monitoring the daily attendance of field operations personnel, requesting repair services for vehicles, training new dispatchers, and completing required education/training classes.

Monitoring daily attendance of ambulance services staff, other data, training, and duties as assigned.

Allocation of overflow calls via communications with private contract ambulance providers through Roundtrip, the telephone and fax.

Selects and notifies the private ambulance company for each assignment, maintaining a reasonable distribution of ambulance orders among the private ambulance companies under contract to the County.

Determines the need for use of overtime to replace absent transportation personnel on overtime, based on consideration of the adequacy of the remaining scheduled ambulance crews, and other transportation personnel, and the number of available ambulances and other vehicles.

Calls in the appropriate relief crew employees, if necessary.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

One year of experience at the level of Ambulance Medical Technician* providing assistance to patients being transported to and from hospitals or other medical facilities**.

*Experience at the level of Ambulance Medical Technician is defined as: attends to patients being transported to and from County or non-County hospitals or institutions by ambulance on emergency and non-emergency calls and is responsible for the patients' safety en-route.

**Other medical facilities are defined as an urgent care center, or a clinic.

PHYSICAL CLASS II - Light: This class includes administrative and clerical positions requiring light physical effort that may include occasional light lifting to a 10-pound limit and some bending, stooping, or squatting. Considerable ambulation may be involved.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS:

Additional credit will be given to applicants that possess the following:

SPECIAL REQUIREMENT INFORMATION:

ALL APPLICANTS MUST MEET THE REQUIREMENTS AT THE TIME OF FILING IN ORDER TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THIS EXAMINATION.

EXAMINATION CONTENT:
This examination will consist of an evaluation of experience based upon application information, desirable qualifications, and supplemental questionnaire, weighted 100%.

Candidates must achieve a passing score of 70% or higher on this examination in order to be placed on the eligible register.

ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION:
Applications will be processed on an "as-received" basis and those receiving a passing score will be promulgated to the eligible register accordingly.

The names of candidates receiving a passing score in the examination will be added to the eligible register and will appear in the order of their score group for a period of twelve (12) months following the date of eligibility.

No person may compete in this examination more than once every twelve (12) months.

SPECIAL INFORMATION

VACANCY INFORMATION:
The resulting eligible register for this examination will be used to fill vacancies in the Department of Health Services (DHS) throughout Los Angeles County as they occur.

AVAILABLE SHIFT:

Appointees may be required to work any shift, including evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays.

APPLICATION AND FILING INFORMATION:

Applications must be filed online only. Applications submitted by U.S. mail, Fax, or in person will not be accepted.

Apply online by clicking on the green "APPLY" button at the top right of this posting. You can also track the status of your application using this website.

This examination will remain open until the needs of the service are met. Application filing may be suspended at any time with or without advance notice.

Applications electronically received after 4:59 p.m., PT, on the last day of filing will not be accepted.

NOTE: If you are unable to attach required documents during application submission, you must email the documents to Yolanda Ramos at yramos@dhs.lacounty.gov within seven (7) calendar days of filing your application online. Please include your name, the exam title, and the exam number.

Plan to submit your online application well in advance of the deadline as you may be required to verify your email address. This only needs to be done once per email address, and if you already have a job seeker account on www.governmentjobs.com/careers/lacounty, you can verify at any time by logging in and following the prompts. This is to enhance the security of your online application and to ensure you do not enter an incorrect email address.

For the foreseeable future, all notices will be sent electronically to the email address provided on the application. It is important that you provide a valid email address. Please add yramos@dhs.lacounty.gov as well as noreply@governmentjobs.com, and info@governmentjobs.com to your email address and list of approved senders to prevent email notifications from being filtered as spam/junk/clutter mail.

Applicants have the ability to opt out of emails from LA County. If you unsubscribe, you will not receive any email notification for any examination for which you apply with Los Angeles County.

Regardless of whether you choose to unsubscribe, you can always check for notifications by logging into governmentjobs.com and viewing your profile box, which saves a copy of all emailed notices.

The acceptance of your application depends on whether you have clearly shown that you meet the Requirements. Fill out your application completely and correctly to receive full credit for related education, and/or experience in the spaces provided so we can evaluate your qualifications for the position. Please do not group your experience. For each position held, give the name and address of your employer, your position title, beginning and ending dates, number of hours worked per week, and description of work performed. If your application is incomplete, it will be rejected.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• All information and documents provided by applicants is subject to verification.
• We may reject your application at any time during the examination and hiring process, including after appointment has been made.
• Falsification of any information may result in disqualification or rescission of appointment.
• Utilizing VERBIAGE from Class Specification and/or Minimum/Selection Requirements serving as your description of duties WILL NOT be sufficient to demonstrate that you meet the requirements. Comments such as "See Résumé" or referencing other unsolicited materials/documents will not be considered as a response; in doing so, your application will be rejected.
• Fill out your application completely. The acceptance of your application depends on whether you have clearly shown that you meet the Requirements. Provide any relevant education, training, and experience in the spaces provided so we can evaluate your qualifications for the job. For each job held, give the name and address of your employer, your job title, beginning and ending dates, number of hours worked per week and description of work performed. If your application is incomplete, it will be rejected.

SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER:
Please include your Social Security Number for record control purposes. Federal law requires that all employed persons have a Social Security Number.

COMPUTER AND INTERNET ACCESS AT PUBLIC LIBRARIES:
For candidates who may not have regular access to a computer or the internet, applications can be completed on computers at public libraries throughout Los Angeles County.

NO SHARING OF USER ID, E-MAIL, AND PASSWORD:
All applicants must file their application using their own user ID and password. Using a family member's or friend's user ID and password may erase a candidate's original application record.

FAIR CHANCE INITIATIVE:

The County of Los Angeles is a Fair Chanc...