Motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) can result in life-threatening injuries, and ambulances are therefore often dispatched at the highest priority response of lights­ and-siren (L&S). However, assigning L&S ambulance response based on type of incident alone may result in over-triage, meaning that the patient's condition did not warrant L&S ambulance response. Potentially, the ambulatory status of the MVC patient at the scene (i.e., whether they can walk) could help inform the ambulance dispatch priority, given that ambulation reflects...

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The first opportunity for prompt identification of a stroke in the prehospital environment often occurs when people telephone for emergency medical services. A better understanding of how callers and dispatchers communicate during emergency calls may assist dispatcher identification of stroke. To conduct a systematic review of the literature to determine communication factors associated with the identification of stroke during emergency calls. Six databases were searched (CINAHL, Cochrane, Embase, Informit, MEDLINE and PsychInfo). To meet...

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