Quality Assurance in Public Safety Communications: The New Normal

2. QUALITY ASSURANCE: The New Normal in Public Safety Communications

3. Eric Parry, ENPBoard MemberDenise Amber Lee FoundationSherrill Ornberg, RPL, ENPDirector of Quality AssuranceDenise Amber Lee Foundation

4. Our New QA Standard! APCO/NENA ANS 1.107.1.2015 Standard for the Establishment of a Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement Program for Public Safety Answering Points

5. Collaborative Effort! • APCO • Denise Amber Lee Foundation • IAED • NENA • PowerPhone • PSAP Leaders

6. Overview • Starting Point for Any Size PSAP • No-Cost • Voluntary – Not Mandatory • Easy To Implement • Complete System for All Call Types • Scoring Templates (EMS, Fire, Law Enforcement) • Vendor/Product Agnostic

7. Objectives of a QA Program • Accountability • Determine areas of concern • Mentoring • Motivate improvements • Regular feedback helps retention • Document, Document, Document • “The less is more” principle doesn’t work!

8. Components of Standard • Introduction - Scope - Purpose - Definitions • Agency Responsibilities • Duties and Responsibilities of the Quality Assurance Evaluator (QAE)

9. Components of Standard (cont’d) • Required Components of a QA/QI Program - Written Directives - Case Review Criteria - Mentoring - Monitoring

10. Components of Standard (cont’d) • Review Process Requirements - Call Selection Criteria - Minimum of 2% Random - Define Exceptions - Timeliness - Review - Documentation - Reporting

11. Components of Standard(cont’d) • Review Process Requirements (cont’d) - Acknowledging Great Work - Recommendations for Improvement (QI) - Feed Back Criteria - Action Plans (as required)

12. Supporting Addendums • Customizing the Case Evaluation Templates • Sample Case Evaluation Templates • Quality Assurance Sample Guidelines for EMS, Fire, Police Events from End to End • QA Process Overview • QA Process Flow Chart

13. The only mechanism that management has to be cognizant of the quality or lack of quality within their workforce (unless you are a psychic!)

14. Selection of Evaluators • Supervisory personnel who are well versed in your agency’s policies and procedures and a willingness to set a positive example. • Management staff who are dedicated to the betterment of your agency and a desire to be honest, fair and ethical. • It is not advisable to have line level staff members evaluating their peers.

15. Responsibilities • Each supervisor/QAE is responsible for doing the quality assurance reviews for each staff member assigned to their shift. • At the end of a 12 month period, the quality assurance reviews will become a quantifiable basis for an objective and factual performance evaluation.

16. Management’s Responsibilities • Monthly calibration of all evaluators is paramount to success by ensuring that the graders are on the “same page”. • Random checks of individual evaluator’s reviews for compliance with agency’s mission statement. • Identifiable issues provided to CTOs for targeted training. • Senior management staff members perform additional reviews for unusual or critical incidents, as well as all complaint based inquiries.

17. Setting Up Your QA Forms • Thoroughly Explain the Quality Assurance Program to your staff members. • Decide on how you want to customize the national Quality Assurance Standard spreadsheets to fit your agency. • Define each question’s point value. • The forms in the national standard have embedded Excel formulas.

18. Setting Up Your QA Forms (Cont.) • Build an Excel spreadsheet with all your staff members names. • For staff members who are exhibiting unacceptable performance or behavior, expand the spreadsheets to track specific questions. • For those staff members who are exhibiting performance that exceeds standards, expand the spreadsheet to track the exceptional performance. • Determine what will be the initial passing score.

19. Scoring Call Taking and Dispatching • Random selection of calls or dispatches • Review CAD incidents • Scoring falls into three general categories • Turn around time is paramount to success • Staff member should always receive a copy of their QA review.

20. Quality Assurance Categories Call Taking • Interview Questions • CAD Skills • Telephone Protocol Adherence • Supervisor’s Overview

21. Calibration • Initially the QAE(s) should be calibrated weekly. • Once the QAE(s) are all on the same page, calibration should be done monthly. • It is very important that questions are consistently objectively scored as “yes”, “no”, “refused” or “NA”, and NEVER “maybe”, or “kindasorta”. • Failure to calibrate will undermine the program and most likely cause it to fail.

22. Final Thought In your professional life, “a powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?” Walt Whitman

23. Questions?

24. Thank You! Thank You! Sherrill Ornberg, ENP, RPL Director of Quality Assurance Denise Amber Lee Foundation sornbergRPL.ENP@gmail.com 847.878.4370 Eric Parry, ENP NGA 911 Corp. eric@NGA911.com 801.833.2486