Uchunguzi (Journal Watch/Montre de Journal

When someone telephones for an ambulance, an interaction ensues which should be efficient and effective to facilitate a speedy dispatch of the appropriate level of vehicle, equipment and personnel to where it is needed. The process in South Africa begins with a three-part opening sequence which typi- cally identifies the organisation, introduces the call-taker (CT) and invites the caller to proceed with the business of the call. In a recent project conducted in a South African emer- gency service, the researchers aimed to ascertain the impact of the CT’s identification sequence on the progression of the call and to determine whether there was a means of streamlining the interaction in order to ensure efficient communication and dispatch time. The greeting sequences in 105 calls were ini- tially analysed following which a trial modification to the openings from the prescribed three-part opening to a two-part opening with the following words: ‘Ambulance service, (name) speaking’, was implemented and analysed. The mean length of calls in one 12-h shift (1100) was compared with the mean length of calls for the same shift (1170 calls) for the day before (derived from the data base) for seven CTs who were present on both days. A mean 4 s advantage was achieved in the dura- tion of calls after the intervention and for Priority 1 calls, an improvement was also noted in the dispatch time under 5 min and the response time under 15 min, (indices of perfor- mance used by the centre). This improvement in Priority 1 calls was, however, not significant on this sample size. The findings clearly demonstrate how efficiency in a system where shaving off even a few seconds may have life-saving consequences can be improved by research and simple interventions.