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2012 National Salary Survey, EMT paid less than dispatcher. Reasons?
So I was looking through my latest JEMS magazine and I noticed something. Emergency Medical Dispatchers seem to make almost $7,000 more than an EMT-I nationally on average. I got to thinking, why is this? The first thing that comes to mind is that I dont know any dispatchers who volunteer to do their job (do it for free). I do, however know many EMTs who volunteer to do their job (do it for free).
Anyone thing of any other reasons for this difference in salary?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Skip Kirkwood on -
That is one reason.
Another reason is that in many communities, dispatch services are provided by another organization - often a law enforcement agency, or some other public agency, that may pay better than a small ambulance service.
A third reason is that in some EMS agencies, dispatchers are "system status controllers" who must first be paramedics, or EMTs, before being promoted to dispatch positions. This was a feature of many of the large former public utility model systems - being a dispatcher required being an experienced field provider first. Some of those also have varying degrees of supervisory authority, scheduling officer duties, etc.
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Permalink Reply by Paula Miller on -
Also, they are often paid by different agencies, i.e. they are government employees as opposed to employees of a fire company or hospital.
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