Marine Riou1, Stephen Ball2, Teresa A Williams3, Austin Whiteside4, Kay L O'Halloran5, Janet Bray6, Gavin D Perkins7, Karen Smith8, Peter Cameron9, Daniel M Fatovich10, Madoka Inoue2, Paul Bailey11, Deon Brink11, Judith Finn12. 1. Prehospital, Resuscitation and Emergency Care Research Unit (PRECRU), School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia. Electronic address: marine.riou@curtin.edu.au. 2. Prehospital, Resuscitation and Emergency Care Research Unit (PRECRU), School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia. 3. Prehospital, Resuscitation and Emergency Care Research Unit (PRECRU), School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia; St John Ambulance (WA), Belmont, WA 6104, Australia; Emergency Medicine, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia; Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, WA 6001, Australia. 4. St John Ambulance (WA), Belmont, WA 6104, Australia. 5. School of Education, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia. 6. Prehospital, Resuscitation and Emergency Care Research Unit (PRECRU), School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia; Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Victoria 3004, Australia. 7. Warwick Clinical Trials Unit and Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom. 8. Emergency Medicine, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia; Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Victoria 3004, Australia; Department of Community Emergency Health and Paramedic Practice, Monash University, Victoria 3004, Australia; Ambulance Victoria, Blackburn North, Victoria 3130, Australia. 9. Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Victoria 3004, Australia. 10. Prehospital, Resuscitation and Emergency Care Research Unit (PRECRU), School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia; Emergency Medicine, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia; Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, WA 6001, Australia; Centre for Clinical Research in Emergency Medicine, Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, Nedlands, WA 6009, Australia. 11. Prehospital, Resuscitation and Emergency Care Research Unit (PRECRU), School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia; St John Ambulance (WA), Belmont, WA 6104, Australia. 12. Prehospital, Resuscitation and Emergency Care Research Unit (PRECRU), School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia; St John Ambulance (WA), Belmont, WA 6104, Australia; Emergency Medicine, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia; Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Victoria 3004, Australia.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Clear and efficient communication between emergency caller and call-taker is crucial to timely ambulance dispatch. We aimed to explore the impact of linguistic variation in the delivery of the prompt "okay, tell me exactly what happened" on the way callers describe the emergency in the Medical Priority Dispatch System®. METHODS: We analysed 188 emergency calls for cases of paramedic-confirmed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. We investigated the linguistic features of the prompt "okay, tell me exactly what happened" in relation to the format (report vs. narrative) of the caller's response. In addition, we compared calls with report vs. narrative responses in the length of response and time to dispatch. RESULTS: Callers were more likely to respond with a report format when call-takers used the present perfect ("what's happened") rather than the simple past ("what happened") (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] 4.07; 95% Confidence Interval [95%CI] 2.05-8.28, p<0.001). Reports were significantly shorter than narrative responses (9s vs. 18s, p<0.001), and were associated with less time to dispatch (50s vs. 58s, p=0.002). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that linguistic variations in the way the scripted sentences of a protocol are delivered can have an impact on the efficiency with which call-takers process emergency calls. A better understanding of interactional dynamics between caller and call-taker may translate into improvements of dispatch performance.
BACKGROUND: Clear and efficient communication between emergency caller and call-taker is crucial to timely ambulance dispatch. We aimed to explore the impact of linguistic variation in the delivery of the prompt "okay, tell me exactly what happened" on the way callers describe the emergency in the Medical Priority Dispatch System®. METHODS: We analysed 188 emergency calls for cases of paramedic-confirmed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. We investigated the linguistic features of the prompt "okay, tell me exactly what happened" in relation to the format (report vs. narrative) of the caller's response. In addition, we compared calls with report vs. narrative responses in the length of response and time to dispatch. RESULTS: Callers were more likely to respond with a report format when call-takers used the present perfect ("what's happened") rather than the simple past ("what happened") (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] 4.07; 95% Confidence Interval [95%CI] 2.05-8.28, p<0.001). Reports were significantly shorter than narrative responses (9s vs. 18s, p<0.001), and were associated with less time to dispatch (50s vs. 58s, p=0.002). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that linguistic variations in the way the scripted sentences of a protocol are delivered can have an impact on the efficiency with which call-takers process emergency calls. A better understanding of interactional dynamics between caller and call-taker may translate into improvements of dispatch performance.
Authors: Lauren Hampton; Peter Brindley; Andrew Kirkpatrick; Jessica McKee; Julian Regehr; Douglas Martin; Anthony LaPorta; Jason Park; Ashley Vergis; Lawrence Gillman Journal: Can J Surg Date: 2020-11-30 Impact factor: 2.089
Authors: Fredrik Byrsell; Andreas Claesson; Martin Jonsson; Mattias Ringh; Leif Svensson; Per Nordberg; Sune Forsberg; Jacob Hollenberg; Anette Nord Journal: Resusc Plus Date: 2021-12-24