Operators keep Vanderbilt on the line

by Tara S. Donahue

Housed on the first floor of the telecommunications building is a large, brightly lit room that contains several cubicles, computers, phones and people. This room, in a small building across 21st Avenue from Wilson Hall, is the main telephone communication terminal for the University and Medical Center. Open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the telephone operators field calls for every area of the University.

The staff consists of four shift supervisors, 18 operators and one data coordinator. Operators receive calls from the main University phone line, the main Medical Center phone number and an internal line. Weekdays during the summer, the operators received as many as 7,000 calls, and roughly 3,000 calls during the weekends, according to Audrey Morrow, PBX operations manager of telecommunications. With the new semester in full swing, the number of calls on weekdays has jumped by almost 50 percent, and calls on the weekend to 4,500.

New operators participate in a six- to eight-week one-on-one training period. They are required to learn the University and Medical Center structure, medical terminology and the information systems necessary to perform their job duties. They are trained on use of the telephone equipment and associated emergency equipment and procedures.

The majority of the phone calls involve the Medical Center, and the phone operators play a great role in making sure the hospital and its staff runs smoothly, especially during an emergency. Patient emergencies are paged on the emergency overhead system in the hospital, and the CPR team (voice) beepers are activated by the operators to make sure the location of the emergency is known.

One responsibility of the operators is overhead paging. Another responsibility of the phone operators is testing the beepers of the STAT team. According to Louise Yates, a phone operator supervisor, the CPR beepers, as the operators call them, are tested each morning at 10 a.m. to ensure all beepers are functioning properly.

As departments change names and people change positions, the operators must keep up with an influx of information. Most of the information is kept in a database that is updated regularly. Memos are passed around when changes have been made, but have yet to be updated in the computer. Recently, the phone operators also gained computer access to limited patient information. Now, when an individual calls to find out if a patient at the Medical Center has been admitted, discharged or what room he or she is in, the operators can tell that individual immediately.

As the main communication center for the University, the operators answer calls for thousands of people. Kelli Keesee, who has been a Vanderbilt operator since January, said a caller recently asked for the number of a person with a very long last name. Drawing from the television show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, Keesee asked the caller if she could use a lifeline and asked him how to spell the name.

"We don't always know everything," she said.

Inside Vanderbilt Operators keep Vanderbilt on the line

Inside Vanderbilt
Operators keep Vanderbilt on the line