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. 2024 Nov 15;24(1):214.
doi: 10.1186/s12873-024-01129-0.

Factors affecting emergency medical dispatchers decision making in stroke calls - a qualitative study

Bjørn Jamtli  1   2 , Edel Jannecke Svendsen  3   4 , Trine Møgster Jørgensen  3 , Jo Kramer-Johansen  5   6   7 , Maren Ranhoff Hov  3   8   9 , Camilla Hardeland  10   5
Affiliations

Factors affecting emergency medical dispatchers decision making in stroke calls - a qualitative study

Bjørn Jamtli et al. BMC Emerg Med. .

Abstract

Objectives: Emergency Medical Communication Centers (EMCC) have a key role in the prehospital chain-of-stroke-survival by recognizing stroke patients and reducing prehospital delay. However, studies on EMCC stroke recognition report both substantial undertriage and overtriage. Since mis-triage at the EMCC challenges the whole chain-of-stroke-survival, by occupying limited resources for non-stroke patients or failing to recognize the true stroke patients, there is a need to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the dispatchers' routines and experiences. The aim of this study was to explore factors affecting EMCC dispatcher's decision-making in stroke calls.

Materials and methods: A qualitative exploratory study, based on individual semi-structured interviews of 15 medical dispatchers from EMCC Oslo, Norway. Interviews were conducted during August and October 2022 and analyzed using the principles of thematic analysis.

Results: We identified four themes: [1] Pronounced stroke symptoms are easy to identify [2]. Non-specific neurological symptoms raise suspicion of acute stroke but are difficult to differentiate from other medical conditions [3]. Consistent use of the Criteria Based Dispatch (CBD) protocol may increase EMCC overtriage [4]. Contextual conditions at EMCC can affect dispatchers' decision-making process and the ability for experiential learning.

Conclusions: Medical dispatchers at the EMCC perceive vague and non-specific stroke symptoms, such as dizziness, confusion or altered behaviour, challenging to differentiate from symptoms of other less time-critical medical conditions. They also perceive the current CBD protocol in use as less supportive in assessing such symptoms. High workload and strict EMCC response time interval requirements hinder the gathering of essential patient information and the ability to seek guidance in cases of doubt, potentially exacerbating both EMCC undertriage and overtriage. The absence of feedback loops and other strategies for experiential learning in the EMCC hampers the medical dispatcher's ability to evaluate their own assessments and improve dispatch accuracy.

Keywords: Emergency Medical Communication Center; Emergency calls; Emergency medical dispatch; Emergency medical services; Prehospital care; Prehospital stroke management; Stroke pathway; Triage..

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate The study is part of The Dispatch –Norwegian Acute Stroke Prehospital Project (Dispatch NASPP). The study was performed according to the principles stated in the Declaration of Helsinki and was based on informed, voluntary, and written informed consent to participate, including the right to withdraw from the study at any time. We informed all participants about the principles for anonymity and confidentiality concerning publication of the results from the interviews. We emphasized that the researchers would not exchange information with the department management regarding individuals’ performances or answers. Protocol for the Dispatch NASPP project was approved by the Regional Committees for Medical Research Ethics South East Norway, University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine (REC) (ref. no. 2018/1909) and the local data protection officer at OUS (ref. no. 18/25297). Informed Consent to participate was deemed unnecessary according to the Norwegian Health Research Act. All patient data collected are anonymized and registered using Medinsight® Release 2.17.4.0 and TSD - Service for Sensitive Data, at the University of Oslo, Norway, a platform to collect, store, analyze and share sensitive data in compliance with the Norwegian regulation regarding individual’s privacy. Consent for publication Not applicable. Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no competing interest.

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