"emergency" rather definitionally indicates that "not normal" or "out of the ordinary" situations are occurring. For most callers, this may be the worst day of their lives - emotion/stress/danger/death/etc.

They're not required to interpret a caller's phone voice as 'hostile' either. Unless the caller actually says something like "I'm going to come find you and kill you or your family" or something along those lines, I don't think there's any reason anything a caller says should be interpreted as 'hostile' to the dispatcher. If they're agitated/upset - well... they're having an emergency.

Should medical staff not expect "sick people" in their office/hospital?

Someone who can't handle someone yelling or swearing on the phone should't be in a dispatcher role, and... yeah, I think it's gotta be stressful for them too, and they probably shouldn't do it a whole lot, as they'll burn out quickly.

To this - surely this would be part of any psychological testing done to screen dispatchers for suitability, no?

I would draw parallels here (though it's nowhere near in scale) with:

* firemen often risking their lives approaching (and sometimes entering) buildings in fire. It's a hostile environment, but it's their duty, whether they are paid or not (volunteer firefighters).

* policemen answering a call in a dangerous/hostile neighbourhoods (or just roaming). It's hostile environment, but it's their duty to be of service there.

Compared to the above, expecting dispatchers to emotionally detach and not take anything said personally is a smaller ask, in my opinion.

> why an emergency dispatcher must be required to withstand hostile behavior as part of their job

Emergencies make people stressed. Stressed people often curse.

Why? Because impoliteness shouldn't be punishable by death.

That's what I was thinking ... "I don't care that (you/your wife/you child) is dying, call back when you can keep a civil tongue in your head."

Also the one dying is (usually) not the caller.

“But why should I object to that term sir,” she says. “See, in our century, we’ve learned not to fear words.”