Videotelefonie in Notrufzentralen – Erfahrungen zwei Jahre nach Einführung bei der Kantonalen Walliser Rettungsorganisation

The now widespread use of smartphones makes the use of video telephony interesting for emergency dispatch centers. However, there is little scientific knowledge about the benefits and problems of video telephony as a supplement to conventional emergency calls beyond cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). We have evaluated the experiences of a large emergency dispatch center in Switzerland since the introduction of video telephony two years ago and present our conclusions from the project in order to support discussions about the benefits of video telephony with initial evidence.

For quality assurance purposes, the emergency calls of the Cantonal Valais Rescue Organization (KWRO) in which the use of video telephony was consecutively recorded and prospectively documented. In addition, 284 randomly selected callers were interviewed after an emergency call using video telephony. Two years after the introduction, the dispatchers were retrospectively surveyed using a standardized questionnaire regarding their experiences and satisfaction with video telephony.

Between November 2021 and January 2024, an attempt was made to establish a video connection for a total of 1972 emergency calls. A video call was established in 82% of cases. For technical reasons, the video call did not work in 238 calls (12%). The quality of the video and audio transmission was rated as good in 91% of cases. Video telephony appears to be particularly helpful for assessing hemorrhaging, breathing, and the state of consciousness and in CPR. We report several cases in which video telephony improved communication with the caller and the dispatching of rescue resources. The willingness of callers to use video telephony is high. Only in 32 emergency calls (2%) did the caller reject video telephony. The vast majority of callers (94%) feel safer with video telephony.

Implementing video telephony in emergency dispatch centers offers a high level of technical reliability with a very high level of satisfaction among dispatchers and acceptance among callers. It shows great potential to improve the quality of emergency call enquiry and dispatching in the future.