Situation awareness in emergency medical dispatch

This paper represents the culmination of collaborative work, starting in 2000 and continuing until 2004. Using an ethnographic-type study and cognitive task analysis methods, the characteristics of situation awareness in a command and control room setting, in particular, amongst emergency ambulance dispatchers, was identified. Using data generated from the study, a framework for Situation Awareness is proposed that integrated the conceptual dimensions of Endsley, with that of Wickens. This work, based on empirical evidence, has provided a framework for understanding the interactions between the different Levels of SA, and the areas of the work domain in which SA is needed.