ArticleScandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine2021
Evaluating a training intervention for improving alignment between emergency medical telephone operators and callers: a pilot study of communication behaviours.
Article in Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Multi-method approach to the development of contextual telephone triage systems.African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence · 2026Article
- The competency requirements for emergency medical services call takers and dispatchers - a scoping review.African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence · 2026Article
- Article
- Difficult calls to emergency medical dispatch centres - a mixed method study.BMC emergency medicine · 2025Article
- "They were sort of in the room with me": a qualitative study about callers' experience of video streaming during medical emergency calls.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2025Article
- Factors affecting emergency medical dispatchers decision making in stroke calls - a qualitative study.BMC emergency medicine · 2024Article
- Can video streaming improve first aid for injured patients? A prospective observational study from Norway.BMC emergency medicine · 2024Observational
- The barriers and facilitators to initiation of telephone-assisted bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation for patients experiencing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in a private emergency dispatch centre in South Africa.Resuscitation plus · 2024Article
- Identifying patients at imminent risk of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during the Emergency Medical call: The views of call-takers.Resuscitation plus · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundCalls to emergency medical lines are an essential component in the chain of survival. Operators make critical decisions based on information they elicit from callers. Although smooth cooperation is necessary, the field lacks evidence-based guidelines for how to achieve it while adhering to strict parameters of index-driven questioning. We aimed to evaluate the effect of a training intervention for emergency medical operators at a call centre in Tønsberg, Norway. The course was designed to enhance operators' communication skills for smoothing cooperation with callers.
methodsCalls were analyzed using inductively developed coding based on the course rationale and content. To evaluate whether the course generated consolidated behavioral change in everyday practice, the independent analyst evaluated 32 calls, selected randomly from eight operators, two calls before and two after course completion. To measure whether skill attainment delayed decision making, we compared the time to the first decision logged by intervention operators to eight control operators. Analysis included 3034 calls: 1375 to intervention operators (T1 = 815; T2 = 560) and 1659 to control operators (T1 = 683; T2 = 976).
resultsOperators demonstrated improved behaviours on how they greeted the caller (p < .001), acknowledged the caller (p < .001), and displayed empathy (p = 0.015). No change was found in the use of open-ended questions and agreeing with the caller. Contrary to expectations, operators who took the course logged first decisions more quickly than the control group (p < .001).
conclusionsThis pilot study demonstrated that the training intervention generated behavioural change in these operators, providing justification for scaling up the intervention.
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