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An analysis of the isiXhosa telephonic descriptors of cardiac arrest (ca) in a Western Cape emergency control centre
Introduction: Out-of-hospital cardiac Arrest (OHCA) represents a considerable public health challenge, characterised by its critical time sensitivity, high morbidity, and poor survival rates. Despite decades of low survival rates, OHCA survival has been a constant concern for healthcare systems glob...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English |
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Department of Surgery
2026
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| _version_ | 1867613322130489344 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Mgidi, Sinethemba Alphius |
| author2 | Stassen, Willem |
| author_browse | Mgidi, Sinethemba Alphius Stassen, Willem |
| author_facet | Stassen, Willem Mgidi, Sinethemba Alphius |
| author_sort | Mgidi, Sinethemba Alphius |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Introduction: Out-of-hospital cardiac Arrest (OHCA) represents a considerable public health challenge, characterised by its critical time sensitivity, high morbidity, and poor survival rates. Despite decades of low survival rates, OHCA survival has been a constant concern for healthcare systems globally. The first stage of managing OHCA is immediate recognition by bystanders and emergency control centre personnel, which rely on the descriptors that callers provide. Varying educational levels and languages make identifying such patients in the Western Cape (WC), South Africa (SA), challenging. This study aims to identify key isiXhosa speaking descriptors used telephonically in the Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness, EMS, when IsiXhosa speaking callers are requesting emergency medical care at the emergency control centre in the event of OHCA. Methodology: Data from the computer-aided dispatch (CAD) programme with a “medical” and "patient unresponsive" incident classification were collected for 12 months (January 2018, to December 2018). A collection of corresponding patient care data were collected to confirm OHCA. The original voice recordings between the caller and the emergency call taker during the emergency were transcribed verbatim. Transcriptions underwent inductive, Hseih and Shannon qualitative content analysis to the manifest level. Descriptors of OHCA in isiXhosa calls were coded, categorised, and quantified. Results: The study identified 729 confirmed OHCA cases, of which 24 (3.3%) were in isiXhosa and were eligible for analysis. Five distinctive categories were identified from the content analysis. Notable descriptors used by callers to describe OHCA were related to respiratory effort (29.4%), cardiac activity (23.5%), level of consciousness (23.5%), clinical features (11.8%) and ill health (11.8%). Conclusion: This study highlighted the descriptors used by isiXhosa-speaking callers when reporting out-of-hospital cardiac arrest telephonically in South Africa's Western Cape province. The findings underscore the importance of providing a list of phrases and words descriptors used in communication between the caller and call takers. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/42520 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | English eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:34:17.944Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Department of Surgery |
| publisherStr | Department of Surgery |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/42520 An analysis of the isiXhosa telephonic descriptors of cardiac arrest (ca) in a Western Cape emergency control centre Mgidi, Sinethemba Alphius Stassen, Willem Van Rensburg, Louis Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Emergency Control Centre Call Taker Emergency Dispatcher IsiXhosa Introduction: Out-of-hospital cardiac Arrest (OHCA) represents a considerable public health challenge, characterised by its critical time sensitivity, high morbidity, and poor survival rates. Despite decades of low survival rates, OHCA survival has been a constant concern for healthcare systems globally. The first stage of managing OHCA is immediate recognition by bystanders and emergency control centre personnel, which rely on the descriptors that callers provide. Varying educational levels and languages make identifying such patients in the Western Cape (WC), South Africa (SA), challenging. This study aims to identify key isiXhosa speaking descriptors used telephonically in the Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness, EMS, when IsiXhosa speaking callers are requesting emergency medical care at the emergency control centre in the event of OHCA. Methodology: Data from the computer-aided dispatch (CAD) programme with a “medical” and "patient unresponsive" incident classification were collected for 12 months (January 2018, to December 2018). A collection of corresponding patient care data were collected to confirm OHCA. The original voice recordings between the caller and the emergency call taker during the emergency were transcribed verbatim. Transcriptions underwent inductive, Hseih and Shannon qualitative content analysis to the manifest level. Descriptors of OHCA in isiXhosa calls were coded, categorised, and quantified. Results: The study identified 729 confirmed OHCA cases, of which 24 (3.3%) were in isiXhosa and were eligible for analysis. Five distinctive categories were identified from the content analysis. Notable descriptors used by callers to describe OHCA were related to respiratory effort (29.4%), cardiac activity (23.5%), level of consciousness (23.5%), clinical features (11.8%) and ill health (11.8%). Conclusion: This study highlighted the descriptors used by isiXhosa-speaking callers when reporting out-of-hospital cardiac arrest telephonically in South Africa's Western Cape province. The findings underscore the importance of providing a list of phrases and words descriptors used in communication between the caller and call takers. 2026-01-09T11:49:11Z 2026-01-09T11:49:11Z 2025 2026-01-05T13:02:36Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters Masters http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42520 en eng application/pdf Department of Surgery Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Emergency Control Centre Call Taker Emergency Dispatcher IsiXhosa Mgidi, Sinethemba Alphius An analysis of the isiXhosa telephonic descriptors of cardiac arrest (ca) in a Western Cape emergency control centre |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | An analysis of the isiXhosa telephonic descriptors of cardiac arrest (ca) in a Western Cape emergency control centre |
| title_full | An analysis of the isiXhosa telephonic descriptors of cardiac arrest (ca) in a Western Cape emergency control centre |
| title_fullStr | An analysis of the isiXhosa telephonic descriptors of cardiac arrest (ca) in a Western Cape emergency control centre |
| title_full_unstemmed | An analysis of the isiXhosa telephonic descriptors of cardiac arrest (ca) in a Western Cape emergency control centre |
| title_short | An analysis of the isiXhosa telephonic descriptors of cardiac arrest (ca) in a Western Cape emergency control centre |
| title_sort | analysis of the isixhosa telephonic descriptors of cardiac arrest ca in a western cape emergency control centre |
| topic | Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Emergency Control Centre Call Taker Emergency Dispatcher IsiXhosa |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42520 |
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