Isabel talks with Dr. Heidi Feldman, a conversation analyst at Northeastern University. They discuss active silent callers, the four-second rule, and qualitative research...
With advances in wireless technology, the volume of unintentional calls, or misdials, to 911 call centers has steadily increased over the past 10 years. While call centers have been working to manage call volume, there is very little systematic research on how to develop policy for handling Active Silent calls where callers may be unable to verbally communicate. The primary objective in this study was to first establish how dispatchers manage nuisance calls, and then provide a systematic way of determining how dispatchers can maximize their opportunities...
Language barriers during emergency calls can delay the delivery of care and jeopardize health outcomes for individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP). This study examines how Mandarin-speaking LEP callers and 911 Public Safety Telecommunicators (PSTs) navigate the critical task of address acquisition during medical emergencies. Using Conversation Analysis, we analyzed nine 911 calls in which callers were later connected to an interpreter only after providing their location.