Study 01 · BMJ Open
Stewarding scarce response capacity
How dispatchers prioritise patients, govern the queue and preserve readiness when ambulance capacity is constrained.
How dispatchers prioritise patients, govern the queue and preserve readiness when ambulance capacity is constrained.
Qualitative interviews with 13 emergency medical dispatchers working across 10 emergency medical communication centres; analysed using inductive content analysis.
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.
Interpretation boundaries
The findings describe professional experience in one organisational context and should be transferred to other EMS systems with attention to local governance.