"Sorry, what did you say?" Communicating defibrillator retrieval and use in OHCA emergency calls.
BACKGROUND: The defibrillator prompt, which directs callers to retrieve a defibrillator during out-of-hospital-cardiac arrest, is crucial to the emergency call because it can save lives. We evaluated communicative effectiveness of the prompt instated by the Medical Priority Dispatch System ™ version...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1116453 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/81328 |
| _version_ | 1848764347502821376 |
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| author | Perera, Niru Ball, Stephen Birnie, Tanya Morgan, Alani Riou, Marine Whiteside, Austin Perkins, Gavin D Bray, Janet Fatovich, Daniel M Cameron, Peter Brink, Deon Bailey, Paul Finn, Judith |
| author_facet | Perera, Niru Ball, Stephen Birnie, Tanya Morgan, Alani Riou, Marine Whiteside, Austin Perkins, Gavin D Bray, Janet Fatovich, Daniel M Cameron, Peter Brink, Deon Bailey, Paul Finn, Judith |
| author_sort | Perera, Niru |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | BACKGROUND: The defibrillator prompt, which directs callers to retrieve a defibrillator during out-of-hospital-cardiac arrest, is crucial to the emergency call because it can save lives. We evaluated communicative effectiveness of the prompt instated by the Medical Priority Dispatch System ™ version 13, namely: if there is a defibrillator (AED) available, send someone to get it now, and tell me when you have it.
METHODS: Using Conversation Analysis and descriptive statistics, we examined linguistic features of the defibrillator sequences (call-taker prompt and caller response) in 208 emergency calls where non-traumatic out of hospital cardiac arrest was confirmed by the emergency medical services, and they attempted resuscitation, in the first six months of 2019. Defibrillator sequence durations were measured to determine impact on time to CPR prompt. The proportion of cases where bystanders retrieved defibrillators was also assessed.
RESULTS: There was low call-taker adoption of the Medical Priority Dispatch System ™ version 13 prompt (99/208) compared to alternative prompts (86/208) or no prompt (23/208). Caller responses to the version 13 prompt tended to be longer, more ambiguous or unrelated, and have more instances of repair (utterances to address comprehension trouble). Defibrillators were rarely brought to the scene irrespective of defibrillator prompt utilised.
CONCLUSION: While the version 13 prompt aims to ensure the use of an available automatic external defibrillator, its effectiveness is undermined by the three-clause composition of the prompt and exclusion of a question structure. We recommend testing of a re-phrased defibrillator prompt in order to maximise comprehension and caller action. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:17:55Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-81328 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:17:55Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-813282021-09-17T01:17:17Z "Sorry, what did you say?" Communicating defibrillator retrieval and use in OHCA emergency calls. Perera, Niru Ball, Stephen Birnie, Tanya Morgan, Alani Riou, Marine Whiteside, Austin Perkins, Gavin D Bray, Janet Fatovich, Daniel M Cameron, Peter Brink, Deon Bailey, Paul Finn, Judith Conversation analysis Defibrillator Dispatch protocol Emergency calls Emergency medical services Health communication Linguistics Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest BACKGROUND: The defibrillator prompt, which directs callers to retrieve a defibrillator during out-of-hospital-cardiac arrest, is crucial to the emergency call because it can save lives. We evaluated communicative effectiveness of the prompt instated by the Medical Priority Dispatch System ™ version 13, namely: if there is a defibrillator (AED) available, send someone to get it now, and tell me when you have it. METHODS: Using Conversation Analysis and descriptive statistics, we examined linguistic features of the defibrillator sequences (call-taker prompt and caller response) in 208 emergency calls where non-traumatic out of hospital cardiac arrest was confirmed by the emergency medical services, and they attempted resuscitation, in the first six months of 2019. Defibrillator sequence durations were measured to determine impact on time to CPR prompt. The proportion of cases where bystanders retrieved defibrillators was also assessed. RESULTS: There was low call-taker adoption of the Medical Priority Dispatch System ™ version 13 prompt (99/208) compared to alternative prompts (86/208) or no prompt (23/208). Caller responses to the version 13 prompt tended to be longer, more ambiguous or unrelated, and have more instances of repair (utterances to address comprehension trouble). Defibrillators were rarely brought to the scene irrespective of defibrillator prompt utilised. CONCLUSION: While the version 13 prompt aims to ensure the use of an available automatic external defibrillator, its effectiveness is undermined by the three-clause composition of the prompt and exclusion of a question structure. We recommend testing of a re-phrased defibrillator prompt in order to maximise comprehension and caller action. 2020 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/81328 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2020.09.006 eng http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1116453 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Elsevier fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Conversation analysis Defibrillator Dispatch protocol Emergency calls Emergency medical services Health communication Linguistics Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest Perera, Niru Ball, Stephen Birnie, Tanya Morgan, Alani Riou, Marine Whiteside, Austin Perkins, Gavin D Bray, Janet Fatovich, Daniel M Cameron, Peter Brink, Deon Bailey, Paul Finn, Judith "Sorry, what did you say?" Communicating defibrillator retrieval and use in OHCA emergency calls. |
| title | "Sorry, what did you say?" Communicating defibrillator retrieval and use in OHCA emergency calls. |
| title_full | "Sorry, what did you say?" Communicating defibrillator retrieval and use in OHCA emergency calls. |
| title_fullStr | "Sorry, what did you say?" Communicating defibrillator retrieval and use in OHCA emergency calls. |
| title_full_unstemmed | "Sorry, what did you say?" Communicating defibrillator retrieval and use in OHCA emergency calls. |
| title_short | "Sorry, what did you say?" Communicating defibrillator retrieval and use in OHCA emergency calls. |
| title_sort | "sorry, what did you say?" communicating defibrillator retrieval and use in ohca emergency calls. |
| topic | Conversation analysis Defibrillator Dispatch protocol Emergency calls Emergency medical services Health communication Linguistics Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest |
| url | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1116453 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/81328 |