Supporting information handovers: Lessons from first response

This thesis addresses the challenges associated with the handover of information in the pre-hospital care chain, with specific attention to the information management issues experienced by first responders. The intention of this work was to develop a more complete understanding of the stakeholders that exist in this system, the data they work with, and their needs in terms of data fields and formatting. The investigation of handover processes in this document includes an overview of information collection, record-keeping and communication practices and protocols used by first responders, informed by data drawn from an ethnographic case study conducted in Whistler, British Columbia, during the summer of 2009. This material forms the foundation for design guidelines for new technology. This thesis considers the tools currently in use, as well as the environmental and cognitive constraints that are intrinsic to crisis management as a domain, in order to offer concrete recommendations for future innovation.