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Research

Technology commitment of emergency medical service practitioners and dispatchers

02 April 2024
Research
02 April 2024
Volume 16 · Issue 4

Abstract

Background:

Digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI) have entered the emergency medical service (EMS). Successful use of them depends on employees' personal attitudes towards modern technology and its use.

Aims:

This study explored the technology commitment of EMS professionals, dispatchers and emergency physicians, including towards AI systems.

Methods:

To assess attitudes in the context of AI systems in EMS, employees were asked to answer an online questionnaire between October 2021 and March 2022.

Findings:

A total of 510 participants, including 184 EMS professionals, 199 dispatchers and 68 emergency physicians, participated. These professionals had moderate to high technology commitment values with minor differences. Technology commitment correlated negatively with age. Gender had no effect.

Conclusion:

The EMS provides fertile ground for AI systems. It is important to keep in mind that people with uncertainties and reservations need support. The scales in the questionnaire proved to be reliable and validt.

Digital technologies have long been part of private and professional life. This article focuses on intelligent digital technologies; these applications use artificial intelligence (AI) as a decision support system to assist with dispatching and running mission control, intelligently visualise complex data structures, and provide a digital platform that acts as an interface for the exchange of data between rescue and fire control centres (CCs) and other authorities. This paper does not take a technical perspective but a human-centred view of emergency medical services (EMS) and CCs.

The work in CCs and EMS is complex in character (Dörner and Funke, 2017). A large number of factors as well as uncertain and incomplete information must be considered by staff who are under time pressure to make a confident decision. Even though individual (mostly rule-based) decision support systems are available (Reuter-Oppermann et al, 2015), they are often standalone solutions and must be analysed by the dispatchers during emergencies, who put in a great deal of cognitive effort to reach a human decision (Hofinger, 2003; Herbig and Müller, 2016).

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Technology commitment
Intelligent systems
Decision support systems
Artificial intelligence
Control centres
Situation rooms