“If you miss that first step in the chain of survival, there is no second step”–Emergency ambulance call-takers’ experiences in managing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest calls
When a person has an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), calling the ambulance for help is the first link in the chain of survival. Ambulance call-takers guide the caller to perform life-saving interventions on the patient before the paramedics arrive at the scene, therefore, their actions, decis...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2023
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90861 |
| _version_ | 1848765444239917056 |
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| author | Perera, Niru Birnie, Tanya Whiteside, Austin Ball, Stephen Finn, Judith |
| author_facet | Perera, Niru Birnie, Tanya Whiteside, Austin Ball, Stephen Finn, Judith |
| author_sort | Perera, Niru |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | When a person has an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), calling the ambulance for help is the first link in the chain of survival. Ambulance call-takers guide the caller to perform life-saving interventions on the patient before the paramedics arrive at the scene, therefore, their actions, decisions and communication are integral to saving the patient’s life. In 2021, we conducted open-ended interviews with 10 ambulance call-takers with the aim of understanding their experiences of managing these phone calls; and to explore their views on using a standardised call protocol and triage system for OHCA calls. We took a realist/essentialist methodological approach and applied an inductive, semantic and reflexive thematic analysis to the interview data to yield four main themes expressed by the call-takers: 1) time-critical nature of OHCA calls; 2) the call-taking process; 3) caller management; 4) protecting the self. The study found that call-takers demonstrated deep reflection on their roles in, not only helping the patient, but also the callers and bystanders to manage a potentially distressing event. Call-takers expressed their confidence in using a structured call-taking process and noted the importance of skills and traits such as active listening, probing, empathy and intuition, based on experience, in order to supplement the use of a standardised system in managing the emergency. This study highlights the often under-acknowledged yet critical role of the ambulance call-taker in being the first member of an emergency medical service that is contacted in the event of an OHCA. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:35:21Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-90861 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:35:21Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-908612023-05-12T03:25:01Z “If you miss that first step in the chain of survival, there is no second step”–Emergency ambulance call-takers’ experiences in managing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest calls Perera, Niru Birnie, Tanya Whiteside, Austin Ball, Stephen Finn, Judith When a person has an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), calling the ambulance for help is the first link in the chain of survival. Ambulance call-takers guide the caller to perform life-saving interventions on the patient before the paramedics arrive at the scene, therefore, their actions, decisions and communication are integral to saving the patient’s life. In 2021, we conducted open-ended interviews with 10 ambulance call-takers with the aim of understanding their experiences of managing these phone calls; and to explore their views on using a standardised call protocol and triage system for OHCA calls. We took a realist/essentialist methodological approach and applied an inductive, semantic and reflexive thematic analysis to the interview data to yield four main themes expressed by the call-takers: 1) time-critical nature of OHCA calls; 2) the call-taking process; 3) caller management; 4) protecting the self. The study found that call-takers demonstrated deep reflection on their roles in, not only helping the patient, but also the callers and bystanders to manage a potentially distressing event. Call-takers expressed their confidence in using a structured call-taking process and noted the importance of skills and traits such as active listening, probing, empathy and intuition, based on experience, in order to supplement the use of a standardised system in managing the emergency. This study highlights the often under-acknowledged yet critical role of the ambulance call-taker in being the first member of an emergency medical service that is contacted in the event of an OHCA. 2023 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90861 10.1371/journal.pone.0279521 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Public Library of Science (PLoS) fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Perera, Niru Birnie, Tanya Whiteside, Austin Ball, Stephen Finn, Judith “If you miss that first step in the chain of survival, there is no second step”–Emergency ambulance call-takers’ experiences in managing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest calls |
| title | “If you miss that first step in the chain of survival, there is no second step”–Emergency ambulance call-takers’ experiences in managing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest calls |
| title_full | “If you miss that first step in the chain of survival, there is no second step”–Emergency ambulance call-takers’ experiences in managing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest calls |
| title_fullStr | “If you miss that first step in the chain of survival, there is no second step”–Emergency ambulance call-takers’ experiences in managing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest calls |
| title_full_unstemmed | “If you miss that first step in the chain of survival, there is no second step”–Emergency ambulance call-takers’ experiences in managing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest calls |
| title_short | “If you miss that first step in the chain of survival, there is no second step”–Emergency ambulance call-takers’ experiences in managing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest calls |
| title_sort | “if you miss that first step in the chain of survival, there is no second step”–emergency ambulance call-takers’ experiences in managing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest calls |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90861 |