Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
An analysis of the Afrikaans telephonic descriptors of cardiac arrest in a Western Cape Emergency Control centre
Introduction: Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) is a time-sensitive emergency which requires prompt identification and emergency care in order to reduce morbidity and mortality. The first step in recognising OHCA is rapid identification by the emergency dispatch centre. Identification of such pa...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Division of Emergency Medicine
2021
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867613189184684032 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | van Rensburg, Louis Chris |
| author2 | Stassen, Willem |
| author_browse | Stassen, Willem van Rensburg, Louis Chris |
| author_facet | Stassen, Willem van Rensburg, Louis Chris |
| author_sort | van Rensburg, Louis Chris |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Introduction: Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) is a time-sensitive emergency which requires prompt identification and emergency care in order to reduce morbidity and mortality. The first step in recognising OHCA is rapid identification by the emergency dispatch centre. Identification of such patients remains challenging in South Africa due to multiple languages and widely differing levels of education. This study aimed to identify the key descriptors (words and phrases) of OHCA used by callers speaking Afrikaans when contacting the emergency dispatch centre of the Western Cape Provincial Emergency Medical Services (WC-EMS). Methodology: Computer-aided dispatch (CAD) data with a corresponding “patient unresponsive” incident type were drawn for a 12 month period (January – December 2018). Corresponding patient care records were extracted to verify OHCA. The original voice recordings between the caller and emergency call taker at the time of the emergency were extracted and transcribed verbatim. Transcriptions were subjected to inductive, qualitative content analysis to the manifest level. Descriptors of OHCA in Afrikaans calls were coded, categorised and quantified. Results: A total of 729 confirmed OHCA cases were identified, of which 36 (5%) were in Afrikaans and eligible for analysis. Following content analysis, 83 distinct codes in six categories were identified. The most prevalent categories were descriptors related to Respiratory Effort (apnoea and difficulty in breathing; 30.1%) (30.1%), Clinical Features (related to the eyes, mouth and body temperature; 20.4%) and Cardiac Activity (pulselessness; 16.8%). Conclusion Afrikaans Callers within the Western Cape province of South Africa use consistent descriptors when requesting and ambulance for OHCA. Future studies should focus on describing descriptors for other languages commonly spoken in the province, and to develop and validate telephonic OHCA recognition algorithms. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/33089 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:32:11.035Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publishDateRange | 2021 |
| publishDateSort | 2021 |
| publisher | Division of Emergency Medicine |
| publisherStr | Division of Emergency Medicine |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/33089 An analysis of the Afrikaans telephonic descriptors of cardiac arrest in a Western Cape Emergency Control centre van Rensburg, Louis Chris Stassen, Willem Claassen, Joel Clinical Emergency Care Introduction: Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) is a time-sensitive emergency which requires prompt identification and emergency care in order to reduce morbidity and mortality. The first step in recognising OHCA is rapid identification by the emergency dispatch centre. Identification of such patients remains challenging in South Africa due to multiple languages and widely differing levels of education. This study aimed to identify the key descriptors (words and phrases) of OHCA used by callers speaking Afrikaans when contacting the emergency dispatch centre of the Western Cape Provincial Emergency Medical Services (WC-EMS). Methodology: Computer-aided dispatch (CAD) data with a corresponding “patient unresponsive” incident type were drawn for a 12 month period (January – December 2018). Corresponding patient care records were extracted to verify OHCA. The original voice recordings between the caller and emergency call taker at the time of the emergency were extracted and transcribed verbatim. Transcriptions were subjected to inductive, qualitative content analysis to the manifest level. Descriptors of OHCA in Afrikaans calls were coded, categorised and quantified. Results: A total of 729 confirmed OHCA cases were identified, of which 36 (5%) were in Afrikaans and eligible for analysis. Following content analysis, 83 distinct codes in six categories were identified. The most prevalent categories were descriptors related to Respiratory Effort (apnoea and difficulty in breathing; 30.1%) (30.1%), Clinical Features (related to the eyes, mouth and body temperature; 20.4%) and Cardiac Activity (pulselessness; 16.8%). Conclusion Afrikaans Callers within the Western Cape province of South Africa use consistent descriptors when requesting and ambulance for OHCA. Future studies should focus on describing descriptors for other languages commonly spoken in the province, and to develop and validate telephonic OHCA recognition algorithms. 2021-03-03T02:08:32Z 2021-03-03T02:08:32Z 2020 2021-03-02T16:26:13Z Master Thesis Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/33089 eng application/pdf Division of Emergency Medicine Faculty of Health Sciences |
| spellingShingle | Clinical Emergency Care van Rensburg, Louis Chris An analysis of the Afrikaans telephonic descriptors of cardiac arrest in a Western Cape Emergency Control centre |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | An analysis of the Afrikaans telephonic descriptors of cardiac arrest in a Western Cape Emergency Control centre |
| title_full | An analysis of the Afrikaans telephonic descriptors of cardiac arrest in a Western Cape Emergency Control centre |
| title_fullStr | An analysis of the Afrikaans telephonic descriptors of cardiac arrest in a Western Cape Emergency Control centre |
| title_full_unstemmed | An analysis of the Afrikaans telephonic descriptors of cardiac arrest in a Western Cape Emergency Control centre |
| title_short | An analysis of the Afrikaans telephonic descriptors of cardiac arrest in a Western Cape Emergency Control centre |
| title_sort | analysis of the afrikaans telephonic descriptors of cardiac arrest in a western cape emergency control centre |
| topic | Clinical Emergency Care |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/33089 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT vanrensburglouischris ananalysisoftheafrikaanstelephonicdescriptorsofcardiacarrestinawesterncapeemergencycontrolcentre AT vanrensburglouischris analysisoftheafrikaanstelephonicdescriptorsofcardiacarrestinawesterncapeemergencycontrolcentre |