Evaluation of emergency medical dispatch in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Taipei

Introduction: Emergency medical dispatchers are the entry points to the emergency medical services (EMS). The overall performances of the dispatchers are imperative determinants of the emergency medical services dispatching system. There is little data on the cultural and language impacts on emergency medical dispatch. Objective: This study examined the emotional content and cooperation score (ECCS) among Mandarin Chinese speaking callers for cardiac arrests, and evaluated the performances of emergency medical services dispatching system in Taipei. Methods: This retrospective, observational study examined dispatching audio recordings obtained from the Taipei City Fire Department Dispatching Center between January 2004 to April 2004. The tapes of call relating to adult (age >= 18 years), non-traumatic cases with a presumed or field diagnosis of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) underwent systemic review. The caller's ECCS and the dispatcher's performances, including interview skills, provision of telephone-assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (T-CPR), and dispatcher's ability to identify OHCA were examined. Interrater reliability for determining ECCS and interview skills were assessed using kappa statistic.