Jurnal Internasional Afrika vol. 10 issue 2 2020
African Journal of Emergency Medicine
Telephonic description of sepsis among callers to an emergency dispatch centre in South Africa
Dublin Core
Title
Jurnal Internasional Afrika vol. 10 issue 2 2020
African Journal of Emergency Medicine
Telephonic description of sepsis among callers to an emergency dispatch centre in South Africa
African Journal of Emergency Medicine
Telephonic description of sepsis among callers to an emergency dispatch centre in South Africa
Subject
Emergency medical services
Emergency medical dispatch
Sepsis
Emergency medical dispatch
Sepsis
Description
Introduction: Sepsis is an acute, life-threatening condition caused by a dysregulated systemic response to infection.
Early medical intervention such as antibiotics and fluid resuscitation can be life-saving. Diagnosis or
suspicion of sepsis by an emergency call-taker could potentially improve patient outcome. Therefore, the aim
was to determine the keywords used by callers to describe septic patients in South Africa when calling a national
private emergency dispatch centre.
Methods: A retrospective review of prehospital patient records was completed to identify patients with sepsis in
the prehospital environment. A mixed-methods design was employed in two-sequential phases. The first phase
was qualitative. Thirty cases of sepsis were randomly selected, and the original call recording was extracted.
These recordings were transcribed verbatim and subjected to content analysis to determine keywords of signs
and symptoms telephonically. Once keywords were identified, an additional sample of sepsis cases that met
inclusion and exclusion criteria were extracted and listened to. The frequency of each of the keywords was
quantified.
Results: Eleven distinct categories were identified. The most prevalent categories that were used to describe
sepsis telephonically were: gastrointestinal symptoms (40%), acute altered mental status (35%), weakness of the
legs (33%) and malaise (31%). At least one of these four categories of keywords appeared in 86% of all call
recordings.
Conclusion: It was found that certain categories appeared in higher frequencies than others so that a pattern
could be recognised. Utilising these categories, telephonic recognition algorithms for sepsis could be developed
to aid in predicting sepsis over the phone. This would allow for dispatching of the correct level of care immediately
and could subsequently have positive effects on patient outcome
Early medical intervention such as antibiotics and fluid resuscitation can be life-saving. Diagnosis or
suspicion of sepsis by an emergency call-taker could potentially improve patient outcome. Therefore, the aim
was to determine the keywords used by callers to describe septic patients in South Africa when calling a national
private emergency dispatch centre.
Methods: A retrospective review of prehospital patient records was completed to identify patients with sepsis in
the prehospital environment. A mixed-methods design was employed in two-sequential phases. The first phase
was qualitative. Thirty cases of sepsis were randomly selected, and the original call recording was extracted.
These recordings were transcribed verbatim and subjected to content analysis to determine keywords of signs
and symptoms telephonically. Once keywords were identified, an additional sample of sepsis cases that met
inclusion and exclusion criteria were extracted and listened to. The frequency of each of the keywords was
quantified.
Results: Eleven distinct categories were identified. The most prevalent categories that were used to describe
sepsis telephonically were: gastrointestinal symptoms (40%), acute altered mental status (35%), weakness of the
legs (33%) and malaise (31%). At least one of these four categories of keywords appeared in 86% of all call
recordings.
Conclusion: It was found that certain categories appeared in higher frequencies than others so that a pattern
could be recognised. Utilising these categories, telephonic recognition algorithms for sepsis could be developed
to aid in predicting sepsis over the phone. This would allow for dispatching of the correct level of care immediately
and could subsequently have positive effects on patient outcome
Creator
Willem Stassen (PhD), Eric Larsson, Courtney Wood, Lisa Kurland
Source
www.elsevier.com/locate/afjem
Publisher
afem
Date
6 January 2020
Contributor
peri irawan
Format
pdf
Language
english
Type
text
Files
Citation
Willem Stassen (PhD), Eric Larsson, Courtney Wood, Lisa Kurland, “Jurnal Internasional Afrika vol. 10 issue 2 2020
African Journal of Emergency Medicine
Telephonic description of sepsis among callers to an emergency dispatch centre in South Africa,” Repository Horizon University Indonesia, accessed November 22, 2024, https://repository.horizon.ac.id/items/show/2440.
African Journal of Emergency Medicine
Telephonic description of sepsis among callers to an emergency dispatch centre in South Africa,” Repository Horizon University Indonesia, accessed November 22, 2024, https://repository.horizon.ac.id/items/show/2440.