Norwegian Emergency Dispatch Handling of Suicide Calls: An Explorative Study

Abstract

Background: Suicide is a major societal issue. The Emergency Medical Communication Center have a responsibility to assess emergencies, including suicide threats. Nevertheless, mental health and suicide are traditionally not topics that have been prioritized. The purpose of this study is to explore the work of dispatchers at an emergency medical communication center receiving suicide calls. As this is a field with little coverage, more research on their work with suicide threats is wanted. The aim of this study is to uncover whether there are areas of improvement in the emergency medical communication center’s work with suicidal patients, and whether there are issues that can be further researched in the long term. Methods: To investigate this, qualitative methods have been used, where eight individual semi-structured interviews with emergency medical dispatchers has been conducted. The interviews were analyzed using content analysis. Results: Four themes were identified from the interviews: 1) Communication with people in suicide crisis, 2) A need for more knowledge and competence, 3) Time pressure, and 4) “Need a person with a clue.” Conclusions: In conclusion, the dispatchers experience suicide conversations as difficult, hopeless and time consuming. They feel a lack a of knowledge and competence to take on these conversations, which often results in a desire for someone else to take over that responsibility.

Background: Suicide is a major societal issue. The Emergency Medical Communication Center have a responsibility to assess emergencies, including suicide threats. Nevertheless, mental health and suicide are traditionally not topics that have been prioritized. The purpose of this study is to explore the work of dispatchers at an emergency medical communication center receiving suicide calls. As this is a field with little coverage, more research on their work with suicide threats is wanted. The aim of this study is to uncover whether there are areas of improvement in the emergency medical communication center’s work with suicidal patients, and whether there are issues that can be further researched in the long term. Methods: To investigate this, qualitative methods have been used, where eight individual semi-structured interviews with emergency medical dispatchers has been conducted. The interviews were analyzed using content analysis. Results: Four themes were identified from the interviews: 1) Communication with people in suicide crisis, 2) A need for more knowledge and competence, 3) Time pressure, and 4) “Need a person with a clue.” Conclusions: In conclusion, the dispatchers experience suicide conversations as difficult, hopeless and time consuming. They feel a lack a of knowledge and competence to take on these conversations, which often results in a desire for someone else to take over that responsibility.