First responder communication in CBRN environments: FIRCOM-CBRN study

Schumacher, Jan; Arlidge, James; Dudley, Declan; Ross, Jennifer Van; Garnham, Francesca; Prior, Kate

doi:10.1136/emermed-2019-208413

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…After screening titles and abstracts for content relevancy, 87 were excluded and 17 full text-articles were assessed for inclusion in the narrative synthesis. Two articles [ 26 , 27 ] were excluded as they did not make comparisons with non-RPE controls. A flow diagram is provided ( Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Speech intelligibility in respiratory protective equipment - Implications for verbal communication in critical care

Round

Isherwood

2021

Trends in Anaesthesia and Critical Care

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Respiratory protective equipment (RPE) such as filtering facepiece respirators, elastomeric respirators and powered air-purifying respirators are routinely worn in the critical care unit as a component of personal protective equipment (PPE) when caring for patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). It is the authors’ anecdotal experience that RPE may, however, inadvertently interfere with verbal communication between critical care staff. The literature pertaining to the effects of RPE wear on verbal communication was therefore reviewed. A literature search returned 98 articles, and 4 records were identified from other sources; after screening for content relevancy, 15 experimental studies were included in the narrative synthesis. Previous studies in both healthcare and other occupational settings suggest a detrimental impact on speech intelligibility, varying according to RPE type and test conditions. The effects of background noise and potential for increased cognitive load through compensatory behaviours are also identified. The clinical significance of these effects remains uncertain though, as evidence measuring clinical outcomes or errors is lacking. Mitigating strategies include increasing speech intelligibility through environmental changes and technology; modifying verbal communication strategies; and decreasing reliance on verbal communication where possible.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Speech intelligibility in respiratory protective equipment - Implications for verbal communication in critical care

Round

Isherwood

2021

Trends in Anaesthesia and Critical Care

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“…(Within the MRT, the order of words on the answer sheets are varied so any learning effect is minimised.) For the Sentences Test,7 listeners were asked to rate the intelligibility of sentences on a scale of 1–5, from poor (1/5) to excellent (5/5). Scores for each pair of simultaneous recordings were compared using a paired t-test (see online supplemental appendix for the details of the MRT and Key Sentences Test).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving communications in PPE: a solution for ‘landline’ telephone communication

et al. 2023

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BackgroundEmergency care staff wearing elastomeric respiratory personal protective equipment (PPE) report difficulties in communicating by telephone. We developed and tested an affordable technological solution aimed at improving telephone call intelligibility for staff wearing PPE.MethodsA novel headset was created to enable a throat microphone and bone conduction headset to be used in combination with a standard hospital ‘emergency alert’ telephone system. Speech intelligibility of an ED staff member wearing PPE was compared between the proposed headset and current practice by simultaneously recording a version of the Modified Rhyme Test and a Key Sentences Test. Recordings were played back to a group of blinded ED staff listening to pairs of recordings under identical conditions. The proportion of correctly identified words was compared using a paired t-test.ResultsFifteen ED staff correctly identified a mean of 73% (SD 9%) words for speech communicated via the throat microphone system, compared with only 43% (SD 11%) of words for standard practice (paired t-test, p<0.001).ConclusionsIntroduction of a suitable headset could significantly improve speech intelligibility during ‘emergency alert’ telephone calls.

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“…To evaluate the impact of the proposed headset on communication in PPE, a member of the ED team wearing an elastomeric mask was asked to read-out 4 sets of 50 words from the Modified Rhyme Test [8] , and 5 phrases relevant to an Emergency Department setting in the form of a Key Sentences Test [9] . The speaker’s voice was picked up simultaneously using two landline hospital telephones; one connected via the proposed headset and the other through detecting speech via a standard telephone receiver.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving communications in PPE: A solution for landline telephone communication.

Coats

Pallett

Mangat

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Background. Emergency care staff wearing elastomeric respiratory PPE report difficulties in communicating by telephone. We developed and tested an affordable technological solution aimed at improving telephone call intelligibility in staff wearing PPE. Methods. A novel headset was created to enable a throat microphone and bone conduction headset to be used in combination with a standard hospital emergency alert telephone system. Speech intelligibility of a ED staff member wearing PPE was compared between the proposed headset and current practice by simultaneously recording a short-version of the Modified Rhyme Test and a Key Sentences Test. Recordings were played back to a group of blinded ED staff listening to pairs of recordings under identical conditions. The proportion of correctly identified words was compared using a paired t-test. Results. Fifteen ED staff correctly identified a mean of 73% (SD 9%) words for speech communicated via the throat microphone system, compared to only 43% (SD 11%) of words for standard practice (paired t-test, p<0.001). Conclusions. Introduction of a suitable headset can significantly improve speech intelligibility during emergency alert telephone calls.

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First responder communication in CBRN environments: FIRCOM-CBRN study

Cited by 7 publications

References 6 publications

Speech intelligibility in respiratory protective equipment - Implications for verbal communication in critical care

Speech intelligibility in respiratory protective equipment - Implications for verbal communication in critical care

Improving communications in PPE: a solution for ‘landline’ telephone communication

Improving communications in PPE: A solution for landline telephone communication.

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