Pre-Hospital Communication

Author: John David Ferris, Chris Gray / Editors: Tajek B Hassan / Reviewer: Stewart McMorran, Chris Gray / Code: T2 / Published: 09/08/2021 / Reviewed: 21/10/2024

This session covers modalities used in pre-hospital communication.

Before commencing this session you should:

• Be familiar with the phonetic alphabet and its use
• Have some awareness of major incident management

By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Describe some of the communication methods used pre-hospitally
• Recognise potential limitations to communication in the pre-hospital environment
• Understand how to communicate with the pre-hospital services effectively including the use of pre-alerts
• Give or receive a structured handover

References

1. Barnes R et al., Report of the 7 July Review Committee. Greater London Authority. 2006.
2. Update on the implementation of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 recommendations. Greater London Authority. 2020.
3. Corey AM. Introducing Communication. In: Pierce T, The Evolution of Human Communication: from Theory to Practice (2^nd ed.) Ontario, Canada: EtrePress; 2019.
4. NHS Health Careers. Call handler/emergency medical dispatcher. [cited 25th July 2024].
5. Turner J and Jacques R. Ambulance Response Programme Review, report of ARP phase 2.3 implementation. NHS England. Gateway publication reference 08296, 2018.
6. RAYNET-UK website. [cited 25th July 2024].
7. Cabinet Office. Resilient communications. [cited 25th July 2024].
8. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. NATO phonetic alphabet, codes and signals. [accessed 25th January 2021].
9. International Civil Aviation Organization. Annex 10: Aeronautical Telecommunications Volume II: Communication Procedures including those with PANS status (7^th ed.) 2016.
10. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), Major Trauma service delivery: NICE Guideline [NG40]. [cited 25th July 2024].
11. Cabinet Office. Emergency responder interoperability: lexicon. [cited 25th July 2024].
12. Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles. Early stages of an incident & M/ETHANE. [cited 25th July 2024].
13. Reid C, Brindley P et al., Zero point survey: a multidisciplinary idea to STEP UP resuscitation effectiveness. Clin Exp Emerg Med 2018;5(3):139-143.
14. Reid C. The Zero Point Survey. (YouTube video) [cited 25th July 2024].
15. Joint Royal Colleges Ambulance Liaison Committee. JRCALC Clinical Guidelines. 2019.