Fig. 1

Typical communication links in major incident response in Norway. In the chain of pre-hospital emergency medical care, teams and team members are not usually co-located. In Norway, medical emergency calls from the public are handled by dispatchers at the local emergency medical communication centre who decide on the type of response needed [1]. The Joint Rescue Coordination Centres have overall operational responsibility during search and rescue operations. Together with the local emergency medical communication centres they coordinate and facilitate multidisciplinary cooperation and communication. Communication links, within and between teams, are depicted by curved and straight-lined bidirectional arrows, respectively. (Illustration: Kim Søderstrøm)