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- Alkusaibati, Wael, 1990-
(författare)
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Digitalized Co-production of Emergency Response : Using Volunteers as First Responders
- 2024
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Contemporary global challenges like global warming, rapid urban development, and the current unstable security situation, lead to an increase in large-scale crises (e.g., forest fires) alongside frequent smaller emergencies (e.g., house fires and traffic accidents). The increase in emergencies strains professional response organizations, necessitating additional resources. Civilian volunteers are therefore increasingly being integrated into the response system. The development is mediated by information and communication technologies (ICTs) which enable communication between professional responders (e.g., the municipal rescue services, the emergency medical services, the Public Swedish Answering Point) and citizens. While many studies focus on spontaneous volunteer activities emerging on social media, fewer examine organized volunteerism initiatives at the local emergency response level. Over a decade ago, a municipal rescue service in northern Sweden established an initiative recruiting volunteers as first responders and equipping them with basic response tools. The volunteers undergo training in tasks such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and fire extinguishing. They are dispatched to predefined response tasks using simple ICT applications like SMS lists or mobile apps. This initiative has expanded to other areas due to perceived benefits such as shorter response times and reduced casualties and material damage. The phenomenon can be labelled as an emerging form of ICT-enabled or digitalized co-production of public services. However, previous research indicates a research gap in understanding, describing, and defining this type of co-production. The overall aim of the thesis is to describe how these ICT-enabled initiatives emerge and develop over time and identify the related effects on the response system. This is expected to provide recommendations on how they can be developed and supported. This aim is divided into three specific objectives, where each has been addressed through a research paper: 1- identifying how the existing literature describes ICT-enabled/digitalized volunteerism in large- and small-scale emergencies, 2- identifying how these initiatives emerge and operate, and can be maintained in small-scale emergencies, introducing more systematized knowledge on this concept, 3- initially evaluating the contributions of volunteers in the initiatives. Leaning on a case study approach inspired by action research, a combination of data collection methods has been adopted, e.g., a literature review, interviews, and incident reports filled out by volunteers. For the data analysis, the theoretical lens of ICT-enabled/digitalized co-production of public services has been applied. The first paper is a literature review study that examines digitally enabled volunteering activities in crises and small-scale emergencies. It highlights the prevalence of studies on volunteers using social media for crowdsourcing in crises, often termed digitalized volunteerism which entails virtual and, or physical contributions by volunteers to the response efforts. In contrast, fewer studies focus on volunteers' role in local small-scale emergencies, labelled as "hybrid" ICT-enabled or digitalized coproduction. The term hybrid here refers to the loose affiliation of the volunteers where they collaborate with the rescue services but are not officially associated through binding contracts. Hence, they are in between spontaneous and organized volunteerism. Both volunteering modes support professional response systems and display similar needs for steering, financial support, coordination, and integration of ICT artifacts. However, crises require increased coordination to manage uncertainties, risks, and data overload effectively. The second paper presents three models describing the emergence of hybrid digitalized co-production initiatives in urban and rural areas, as defined in Paper 1, along with how national authorities can support them. These models i.e., Rural, Urban, and National consist of three phases: Recruitment, Response, and Maintenance. Each model exhibits distinct characteristics. In rural areas for example, there is a need for more regular training due to low alerting frequency, and the possibility of using simple dispatch ICTs as cost-effective solutions. Conversely, urban areas have more alerts, necessitating more advanced ICTs, with less emphasis on regular training compared to rural areas. At the macro-level, the national model highlights roles that national actors can play such as facilitating a joint Application Programming Interface (API), joint insurance solutions, and an ICT system that can register incoming and active volunteers. The third paper is an initial evaluation of these initiatives at emergency sites, focusing on ICT-enabled dispatch, estimated response times, tasks performed, and collaboration with professionals, to assess the effects of using volunteers. This approach contrasts with previous studies that took an overall perspective and only used qualitative data. A total of 53 incident reports were collected from volunteers, revealing that volunteers arrived before professionals in twothirds of incidents, contributing to an average gain of 5 minutes. Additionally, volunteers performed a broader range of tasks than previously described, and often continued collaboration with professionals on-site, despite the initial expectation of handing over tasks upon the arrival of professional response actors. Also, comparing this data with the rural model from Paper 2, similarities and differences emerged. For instance, there was a higher number of alerts, and the basic ICTs used for dispatch were deemed insufficient, contrary to the model's perception. The thesis’ scientific contribution is a clearer conception of digitalized co-production of, above all, local emergency response as an emerging phenomenon. In the three papers, the ICT dispatch was identified as central and needs further development to enhance this co-production form. The thesis also sheds light on the need to integrate the initiatives into the official governmental frameworks. Furthermore, the thesis provides a primary understanding of how the concept works on the ground and provides an initial evaluation of the effects. In the practical field, the thesis offers insights into the importance of volunteers as additional resources to the official response systems, highlights challenges, hindrances, and enablers, and suggests potential solutions and improvements. Future work will include a further collection of incident reports for more reliable assessments and complementary interviews with volunteers. Also, the potential role of volunteers in larger crises, for example, as part of civil preparedness, will be further explored.
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| 2. |
- Andersson Granberg, Tobias, 1973-, et al.
(författare)
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Sensor Requirements for Logistics Analysis of Emergency Incident Sites
- 2020
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 17th ISCRAM Conference. - : Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. - 9781949373271 ; , s. 952-960
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Using sensors to collect data at emergency incident sites can facilitate analysis of the logistic operations. This can be used to improve planning and preparedness for new operations. Furthermore, real-time information from the sensors can serve as operational decision support. In this work in progress, we investigate the requirements on the sensors, and on the sensor data, to facilitate such an analysis. Through observations of exercises, the potential of using sensors for data collection is explored, and the requirements are considered. The results show that the potential benefits are significant, especially for tracking patients, and understanding the interaction between the response actors. However, the sensors need to be quite advanced in order to capture the necessary data.
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| 4. |
- Berggren, Peter, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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Battlefield trauma care
- 2018
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 62nd Annual Meeting. - : Sage Publications. ; , s. 634-638
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Introduction: Rapid and structured medical care is important to increase wounded patients’ chances of survival in modern warfare. This requires a functioning medical chain. Aim: The aim of this study was to expand the knowledge of how the battlefield trauma care affects patient outcome in situations with a large number of casualties in the Swedish armed forces. Methods: An empirical study with a convergent parallel mixed methods design, which included observations and semi-structured interviews. Results: The results show that the trauma care performed at Role 1-units functioned well. The most prominent issue discovered was deficiency in transportation resources for medical evacuation throughout the entire medical chain. Conclusion: Despite that the trauma care performed at Role 1-units functions well, casualties are at risk for preventable complications or death. Improved transportation logistics are required to improve the medical capabilities of the Swedish armed forces.
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| 5. |
- Berggren, Peter, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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The importance of using the designated duty officers when assessing the medical response organization
- 2017
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- BackgroundAn important aspect of disaster medicine is to be proactive and respond quickly when disaster strikes. In Sweden, the role responsible for swift medical response on the regional level is the designated duty officer.MethodsA large exercise to assess national medical response ability was conducted. Seven medical regional staffs (a total of 93 individuals participated as tested participants) were involved in handling a large train accident scenario. The exercise was run for 5 hours, where the different regional staffs were located at their regular command posts. The exercise was organized using Emergo Train Systems.ResultsSeveral capabilities were identified during the exercise as important for the organization to maintain the ability to handle a similar event: documentation and operational picture, communication and terminology, command of resources, strategy for distribution of resources, national co-ordination, and exercise development.The designated duty officers were central to the exercise in several aspects: 1) in developing and verifying a realistic scenario and preparing background information, 2) as participants in the exercise, 3) assessors of the staffs’ behaviors, and 4) as domain experts when interpreting the exercise outcome.ConclusionsUsing subject matter experts is central to many research domains. However, the more complex a situation is the larger the demand of expertise is. The technical platform allows for coordinating complex exercises, whereas the subject matter expert in terms of the designated duty officer is required to guarantee validity and reliability in these large-scale exercises.Key messages:Running complex scenarios to train and test abilities requires subject matter experts in both planning, preparation, implementation, and assessment.Sophisticated simulator and training platforms, such as Emergo Train Systems, facilitates while the designated duty officers are necessary to guarantee validity and reliability in the exercise.
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| 8. |
- Brodin, Wilhelm, et al.
(författare)
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The Effect of Presence of Blood on Medical Laypeople’s Ability to Perform First Aid for Massive Bleeding
- 2022
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting. ; , s. 251-255
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- There are currently several educational initiatives to teach first aid courses for medical laypeople, such as the Stop the Bleed campaign. Although much research on educational initiatives has been conducted, there are still factors that remain unexplored, such as the potential effects of blood itself on laypeople’s first aid performance and educational experience. This study investigates such potential effects for performance of the first aid techniques tourniquet application and wound packing, in relation to individual differences in disgust sensitivity and medical fear of blood. The results show that the presence of blood will increase the time a medical layperson takes to apply a tourniquet and pack a wound but does not affect the quality of the aid. Additionally, the disgust sensitivity of the medical layperson was found to predict an increase in application time for the wound packing task, but not the tourniquet application task, when blood was present.
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| 9. |
- Forsyth, Katherine, et al.
(författare)
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Improving Instructions to Stop the Bleed
- 2017
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 2017 Annual Meting. - Santa Monica : Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, HFES. - 2169-5067 .- 1071-1813. ; , s. 588-592
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Stop The Bleed initiative was developed by the Department of Homeland Security to educate lay providers in bleeding reduction strategies. The current study evaluated: (1)three tourniquet instructions using a simulated tourniquet task and (2)participant confidence levels in tourniquet use and lay provider training. Thirty participants with limited clinical experience applied a tourniquet to a simulated limb using one of three instruction sets. Twelve of these participants (40%) participated in a tourniquet training session and focus group to discuss each instruction set. Participants preferred the most simple and pictoral instruction set, and identified opportunities for improvement in each set. Participant confidence in tourniquet use increased significantly following the task and the focus group. After the focus group, participant confidence in instructing lay providers on proper tourniquet use significantly increased. Adding key steps, contextual pictures, and indicators of success to instructions could support lay providers stop the bleed in life-threatening situations
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