Investigating the Use of Indicators for Cooperation at Incident Scenes

Abstract: In complex emergency situations, there are many times when the rescue service, the police and the medical service must cooperate. To improve the cooperation Samverkan Östergötland has developed ten measurable indicators regarding cooperation to investigate and increase the cooperation between the different organizations. They are then used when the participants of the network Samverkan Östergötland meet two to seven times a year to discuss different local accidents and investigate how and if the indicators were applied during the work at the incident site. The purpose of the study was to investigate how the indicators are used and how there could be improvements regarding the indicators. The study was conducted by applying descriptive statistics and thematic analysis regarding all the protocols from the 14 meetings. The study was based on protocols where a total of 24 incidents were discussed. The result was corroborated by the coordinator of the Samverkan Östergötland by conducting a semi structured interview. The result indicated that the indicators were fulfilled to varying extent. The findings suggest that more structure regarding documenting and communication is needed, and common training needs to be increased in order to improve the cooperation in accordance of the use of the indicators.