Telecommunications and voice procedure: DipIMC practice questions
PHEM curriculum unit A.4 · Cross-cutting theme A: Operational Practice
The DipIMC is blueprinted against phase 1 of the UK Pre-hospital Emergency Medicine (PHEM) curriculum. This page covers unit A.4, Utilise telecommunications and voice procedure.
Below are 2 free practice questions from the DipIMC.Ninja bank, in the Part A single best answer format. Every answer names the textbook page, guideline or statute it was written from, so you can check it rather than take it on trust. The bank holds 6 questions on this unit.
Question 1 · Scene Safety & Extrication · Easy
You are passing a pre-alert by radio from a rural scene and need to spell the patient's surname, Quigley, to the receiving hospital. Using the NATO phonetic alphabet as set out in the Oxford Handbook of Pre-Hospital Care, which is the correct spelling?
AQueen – Union – Item – George – London – Easy – Yellow
CQuebec – Uniform – India – George – Lima – Echo – Yoke
DQuebec – Uniform – India – Golf – Lima – Echo – Yankee
EQuiver – Uniform – India – Golf – London – Echo – Yankee
Show answer
Answer: D
Quebec – Uniform – India – Golf – Lima – Echo – Yankee
The Oxford Handbook's Table 10.6 gives the NATO phonetic alphabet: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whisky, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu. Quigley is therefore Quebec, Uniform, India, Golf, Lima, Echo, Yankee. The distractors substitute words that are not in the NATO alphabet (Queen, Union, Item, George, London, Easy, Yellow, Yoke, Uncle, Indigo, Quiver), which a listener trained on the NATO alphabet may mishear. The Handbook's table of radio short-hand terms uses the pro-word 'spell' to precede difficult words such as addresses or names, and Table 10.6 also gives the radio pronunciation of numbers (wun, too, thuree, fower, fiyiv, six, seven, ate, niner, zero). ABC of Prehospital Emergency Medicine recommends the NATO phonetic alphabet alongside tools such as METHANE at a mass casualty incident, where poor communication is the most common failing.
Where this comes from
Oxford Handbook of Pre-Hospital Care
Ch. 10 Major incident management and triage · Radio voice procedure — Table 10.6 the phonetic alphabet and numbers · p. 595“The NATO phonetic alphabet”
Ch. 10 Major incident management and triage · Radio voice procedure — Table 10.5 approved radio short-hand terms · p. 594“Precedes difficult words such as addresses or names”
ABC of Prehospital Emergency Medicine
Ch. 33 Emergency Preparedness: Major Incident Management · Communication at a mass casualty incident · p. 180“recommended to use the NATO phonetic alphabet alongside tools”
Ch. 33 Emergency Preparedness: Major Incident Management · Communication at a mass casualty incident · p. 180“Poor communication is the most common failing at an MCI.”
scene-059 · Scene Safety & Extrication · Scene Safety · Easy · v2
Question 2 · Scene Safety & Extrication · Moderate
You are the Forward Medical Adviser at a major incident, call sign Medic One, and need to send a situation report to the ambulance control point, call sign Control. According to the radio voice procedure described in the Oxford Handbook of Pre-Hospital Care, how should the transmission be structured?
AState your own call sign, then the recipient's call sign, then the message, finishing with 'out'
BState the message, then your own call sign, then the recipient's call sign, finishing with 'over'
CState the recipient's call sign, then your own call sign, then the message, finishing with 'over'
DState the recipient's call sign, then the message, then your own call sign, finishing with 'over'
EState your own call sign, then the recipient's call sign, then the message, finishing with 'over'
Show answer
Answer: C
State the recipient's call sign, then your own call sign, then the message, finishing with 'over'
The Oxford Handbook sets out how to make a call: begin by stating the call sign of the station being called, then give your own call sign, give the message, and finish with 'over', which indicates that the recipient can now reply. A reply begins with the replying station's call sign. Once the message or exchange is complete, the final speaker says 'out': 'over' invites a reply and 'out' ends the conversation. Corrections are made by saying 'wrong' and giving the correct information. The key features of any radio message are clarity, accuracy and brevity. In a major incident, health service communications at the scene are an ambulance service responsibility, with communications established from the site to ambulance control.
Where this comes from
Oxford Handbook of Pre-Hospital Care
Ch. 10 Major incident management and triage · Radio voice procedure — making a call · pp. 594–596“Begin the call by stating the call sign of the number being called”
Ch. 10 Major incident management and triage · Radio voice procedure — making a call · pp. 594–596“Then give your call sign”
Ch. 10 Major incident management and triage · Radio voice procedure — making a call · pp. 594–596“Using ‘over’ indicates that the recipient of your call can now reply.”
Ch. 10 Major incident management and triage · Radio voice procedure — ending a call · pp. 594–596“the final speaker says ‘out’”
Ch. 10 Major incident management and triage · Communications at a major incident · pp. 573–574“Health service communications at the scene are an ambulance service responsibility.”
scene-060 · Scene Safety & Extrication · Scene Safety · Moderate · v2