You don’t think? But you can check

Do emergency callers really express uncertainty when they say ‘I (don’t) think

Bibliographic Data

ID5965690
AuthorsMarine Riou (0000-0002-9703-5239, Université Lumière Lyon 2, corresponding author), Nicola Perera (0000-0001-9933-7145, Curtin University), Nirukshi Perera, Stephen Ball (0000-0001-7446-4201, Curtin University), Stephen G Ball (0000-0001-5151-5926, Curtin University), Alan Whiteside (0000-0002-1986-6096, St John of God Hospital), Austin Whiteside (St John Western Australia, Australia), Judith Finn (0000-0002-7307-7944, Curtin University)
Year2025
Volume28
Issue1
Pages98-116
Publication date2025-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDiscourse Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1461-4456 • E-ISSN: 1461-7080
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/14614456251332813
OpenAlexW4409994818
LanguageEN
References cited23

This paper focuses on the epistemic phrase ‘ I (don’t) think ’ when used by lay persons describing a medical emergency to call-takers triaging ambulance dispatch. Using conversation analysis, we analysed a collection of 100 cases of callers saying ‘ I think ’ or ‘ I don’t think ’ in emergency calls for cardiac arrest in Australia. Callers do not typically express uncertainty when they say ‘ I (don’t) think ’, but rather, use ‘ I (don’t) think ’ as an epistemic stance marker introducing their own perspective and indexing low epistemic status. However, call-takers often orient to ‘ I (don’t) think ’ as signalling uncertainty (about accuracy of patient assessment) and subsequently request verification. These requests can create unnecessary delays, as we show that callers who said ‘ I (don’t) think ’ rarely changed their initial assessment. We describe how these findings can be translated into practical recommendations for call-taker training, so as to improve emergency medical dispatch for time-critical situations

Communication in Education and Healthcare · Deception detection and forensic psychology · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Psychology · Social Psychology