“I'm sorry, my English not very good”: Tracking differences between Language-Barrier and Non-Language-Barrier emergency ambulance calls for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest
Background: One-fifth of Australia's population do not speak English at home. International studies have found emergency calls with language barriers (LB) result in longer delays to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) recognition, and lower rates of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CP...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1174838 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/93261 |
| _version_ | 1848765718231777280 |
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| author | Perera, Niru Birnie, T. Ngo, H. Ball, Stephen Whiteside, A. Bray, Janet Bailey, P. Finn, Judith |
| author_facet | Perera, Niru Birnie, T. Ngo, H. Ball, Stephen Whiteside, A. Bray, Janet Bailey, P. Finn, Judith |
| author_sort | Perera, Niru |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Background: One-fifth of Australia's population do not speak English at home. International studies have found emergency calls with language barriers (LB) result in longer delays to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) recognition, and lower rates of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and survival. This study compared LB and non-LB OHCA call time intervals in an Australian emergency medical service (EMS). Methods: The retrospective cohort study measured time intervals from call commencement for primary outcomes: (1) address acquisition; (2) OHCA recognition; (3) CPR initiation; (4) telecommunicator CPR (t-CPR) compressions, in all identified LB calls and a 2:1 random sample of non-LB EMS calls from January to June 2019. Results for time intervals #1, 2, and 4 were benchmarked against the American Heart Association's (AHA) t-CPR minimal acceptable time standards. Patient survival outcomes were compared. Results: We identified 50 (14%) LB calls from a cohort of 353 calls. LB calls took longer than non-LB calls (n=100) for: address acquisition (median 29 vs 14 secs, p<0.001), OHCA recognition (103 vs 85 secs, p=0.02), and CPR initiation (206 vs 164 secs, p=0.01), but not for t-CPR compressions (292 vs 248 secs, p=0.12). Rates of OHCA recognition and 30-day-survival did not differ but smaller proportions of LB calls met the AHA standards. Conclusion: Time delays found in LB calls point to phases of the call which need further qualitative investigation to understand how to improve communication. Overall, training call-takers for LB calls may assist caller understanding and cooperation during OHCAs. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:39:42Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-93261 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:39:42Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-932612023-10-10T06:44:16Z “I'm sorry, my English not very good”: Tracking differences between Language-Barrier and Non-Language-Barrier emergency ambulance calls for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Perera, Niru Birnie, T. Ngo, H. Ball, Stephen Whiteside, A. Bray, Janet Bailey, P. Finn, Judith Ambulance dispatch Emergency Medical Dispatch Emergency calls Emergency medical service Health communication Language barrier Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest Ambulances Australia Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Communication Barriers Emergency Medical Services Humans Language Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Retrospective Studies Humans Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Retrospective Studies Communication Barriers Language Ambulances Emergency Medical Services Australia Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Background: One-fifth of Australia's population do not speak English at home. International studies have found emergency calls with language barriers (LB) result in longer delays to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) recognition, and lower rates of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and survival. This study compared LB and non-LB OHCA call time intervals in an Australian emergency medical service (EMS). Methods: The retrospective cohort study measured time intervals from call commencement for primary outcomes: (1) address acquisition; (2) OHCA recognition; (3) CPR initiation; (4) telecommunicator CPR (t-CPR) compressions, in all identified LB calls and a 2:1 random sample of non-LB EMS calls from January to June 2019. Results for time intervals #1, 2, and 4 were benchmarked against the American Heart Association's (AHA) t-CPR minimal acceptable time standards. Patient survival outcomes were compared. Results: We identified 50 (14%) LB calls from a cohort of 353 calls. LB calls took longer than non-LB calls (n=100) for: address acquisition (median 29 vs 14 secs, p<0.001), OHCA recognition (103 vs 85 secs, p=0.02), and CPR initiation (206 vs 164 secs, p=0.01), but not for t-CPR compressions (292 vs 248 secs, p=0.12). Rates of OHCA recognition and 30-day-survival did not differ but smaller proportions of LB calls met the AHA standards. Conclusion: Time delays found in LB calls point to phases of the call which need further qualitative investigation to understand how to improve communication. Overall, training call-takers for LB calls may assist caller understanding and cooperation during OHCAs. 2021 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/93261 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2021.10.035 eng http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1174838 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Ambulance dispatch Emergency Medical Dispatch Emergency calls Emergency medical service Health communication Language barrier Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest Ambulances Australia Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Communication Barriers Emergency Medical Services Humans Language Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Retrospective Studies Humans Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Retrospective Studies Communication Barriers Language Ambulances Emergency Medical Services Australia Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Perera, Niru Birnie, T. Ngo, H. Ball, Stephen Whiteside, A. Bray, Janet Bailey, P. Finn, Judith “I'm sorry, my English not very good”: Tracking differences between Language-Barrier and Non-Language-Barrier emergency ambulance calls for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest |
| title | “I'm sorry, my English not very good”: Tracking differences between Language-Barrier and Non-Language-Barrier emergency ambulance calls for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest |
| title_full | “I'm sorry, my English not very good”: Tracking differences between Language-Barrier and Non-Language-Barrier emergency ambulance calls for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest |
| title_fullStr | “I'm sorry, my English not very good”: Tracking differences between Language-Barrier and Non-Language-Barrier emergency ambulance calls for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest |
| title_full_unstemmed | “I'm sorry, my English not very good”: Tracking differences between Language-Barrier and Non-Language-Barrier emergency ambulance calls for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest |
| title_short | “I'm sorry, my English not very good”: Tracking differences between Language-Barrier and Non-Language-Barrier emergency ambulance calls for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest |
| title_sort | “i'm sorry, my english not very good”: tracking differences between language-barrier and non-language-barrier emergency ambulance calls for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest |
| topic | Ambulance dispatch Emergency Medical Dispatch Emergency calls Emergency medical service Health communication Language barrier Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest Ambulances Australia Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Communication Barriers Emergency Medical Services Humans Language Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Retrospective Studies Humans Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Retrospective Studies Communication Barriers Language Ambulances Emergency Medical Services Australia Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest |
| url | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1174838 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/93261 |