Vignette 2: Ambulance Control (Martin et al. 1997) |
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Cooperative Arrangement
Small group of workers (4 dispatchers and 2 supervisors), Location within a site with co-location at desks. Ability to oversee and overhear one another. Focus on the public display on two large screens of:
- Vehicle statuses and placement in the region - the Vehicle Availability Map (VAM)
- Incident descriptions and details - The Incident Stack.
Representation of Activity
The VAM represents the placement and statuses of ambulances throughout the region. It shows lists of ambulances for each of the stations in the region. The lists are distributed across the screen in a quasi topological fashion whereby two lists side-by-side are generally geographically proximal. The lists comprise ambulance call sign numbers and are highlighted to show ambulance statuses. Ambulances active on emergencies are highlighted red (black on diagram below), ambulances active on urgent calls are highlighted green (grey below) and ambulances on standby are shown 'flashing'. Available ambulances are just depicted by their ID. This representation of the ambulances in the region gives an at-a-glance view of the current activity over the region, allowing, for example, the identification of problem areas. The incident stack depicts all the current incidents as well as other information. This also allows workers to see how busy the region is, and highlights for instance if any cases are running behind target schedule.
Ecological Arrangement
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Figure 1: The Vehicle Availability Map (VAM) which lists ambulances by regions. Ambulances active on emergencies are here shown with their IDs against a black background. Ambulances on urgent calls are shown against a grey background. Ambulances on standby are shown 'flashing'. Available ambulances are just depicted by their ID. See main text for further explanation. . |
Coordination Techniques
The public display of incident and ambulance details for the region serves as a resource for coordinating activity. Individual workers can see other’s activity reflected in the changes in these displays and through directly viewing other’s interaction with them and can undertake activity in response to this, discuss work and cooperate in solving dispatch and management problems. When individual dispatchers or supervisors enact activities regarding ambulances and incidents this information becomes publicly available via the Incident Stack and the VAM.
Community of Use
Inter-organisational group of workers (4 dispatchers and 2 supervisors) in an ambulance control room.