The Ambulance Journey as an Information Generating Process

The paper explores some features of the extended process of categorization which lies behind the account of the patient's condition finally offered by crewmen to casualty department staff.

Abstract

Abstract One aspect of the emergency ambulance journey often overlooked is its importance as a source of subjective definitions and verbal descriptions which ultimately are likely to influence the form of the incoming patient's initial reception at hospital. Crewmen's need for some‘picture’of the case being processed from the time an emergency telephone call is received, is linked to their reliance on a stock of typified knowledge in recognizing and ordering emerging elements of information. The paper explores some features of the extended process of categorization which lies behind the account of the patient's condition finally offered by crewmen to casualty department staff.