Can video reduce conflict between dispatcher and caller during emergency medical calls? A randomized substudy of the...

IntroductionThis substudy examined whether video-assisted emergency calls affected perceived conflict, call pleasantness, and help received among callers and dispatchers.MethodsThe study was nested within the cluster-randomized CAM-VISION trial at the Emergency Medical Dispatch Center (EMDC) in the Central Denmark Region. Between April 17 and May 1, 2023, dispatchers were assigned to either video-enabled or telephone-only communication. After each call, dispatchers and callers rated conflict, pleasantness, and help on 7-point Likert scales. Outcomes were analyzed using proportional-odds logistic regression (video vs telephone) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and supporting sensitivity analyses.ResultsDuring the 14-day period, 26 dispatchers completed 1522 questionnaires from 2600 emergency calls (response rate 58.5%), including 711 (47%) in the video group and 811 (53%) in the telephone group. Video calls were associated with significantly lower dispatcher-reported conflict (OR 0.39, 95% CI 0.16-0.94; mean difference -0.2, 95% CI -0.5 to 0.0) and fewer severe conflicts (1.4% vs 0.3%; RD -1.1 pp, 95% CI -2.1 to -0.03). Among 322 linked caller-dispatcher pairs, callers rated conflict slightly higher compared with dispatchers (+0.5 points). Caller-reported conflict was similar between groups (OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.55-1.54). Ratings of pleasantness (OR 1.18, 95% CI 0.77-1.80) and perceived help (OR 1.42, 95% CI 0.90-2.24) were uniformly high and did not differ significantly between groups.ConclusionVideo during emergency calls reduced dispatcher-perceived conflict but did not significantly affect caller-perceived conflict or satisfaction, though results consistently trended towards favoring video.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05742412.