All studies
Study 01 · BMJ Open
Peer reviewedStewarding scarce response capacity
How dispatchers prioritise patients, govern the queue and preserve readiness when ambulance capacity is constrained.
Dispatchers described a professional responsibility to steward scarce response capacity through proportionate allocation, preserved availability and coordinated system response.
- Research question
- How dispatchers prioritise patients, govern the queue and preserve readiness when ambulance capacity is constrained.
- Study population
- 13 emergency medical dispatchers · May 2025 · 10 emergency medical communication centres
- Method
- Qualitative interviews with 13 emergency medical dispatchers working across 10 emergency medical communication centres; analysed using inductive content analysis.
- Key findings
- Dispatchers described a professional responsibility to steward scarce response capacity through proportionate allocation, preserved availability and coordinated system response.
- Operational relevance
- Queue governance is active safety work. It depends on reassessment, escalation and balancing current patient need with readiness for the next emergency.
The findings describe professional experience in one organisational context and should be transferred to other EMS systems with attention to local governance.
Open publication ↗How is scarce response capacity shared?
Explore this research questionOriginal publication title
Stewarding scarce response capacity: an inductive qualitative interview study of emergency medical dispatchers prioritising ambulance resources
This page is a research summary. Consult the original English publication for the full methods, results and reuse terms.
Research provenance
- Publication status
- Peer reviewed
- Research question
- How dispatchers prioritise patients, govern the queue and preserve readiness when ambulance capacity is constrained.
- Study population
- 13 emergency medical dispatchers
- Setting
- 10 emergency medical communication centres
- Study period
- May 2025
- Method
- Qualitative interviews with 13 emergency medical dispatchers working across 10 emergency medical communication centres; analysed using inductive content analysis.
- Interpretation boundaries
- The findings describe professional experience in one organisational context and should be transferred to other EMS systems with attention to local governance.
- Cite this research
- Hill P, Lederman J, Jonsson D, Bolin P, Vicente V. Stewarding scarce response capacity: an inductive qualitative interview study of emergency medical dispatchers prioritising ambulance resources. BMJ Open. 2026. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2026-118269