Abstract
The Norwegian Emergency Response Service is built on collaboration between public, private and voluntary organizations, with the police, the fire and rescue service and the ambulance service outlining the primary response units. The emergency response work involves interdisciplinary team collaboration between different units and between the operational commanders within the Incident Command Post. A common language and shared understanding of the situation is essential for emergency response teams to perform effectively and efficiently. The purpose of this study was to investigate to which degree a domain-specific and a generic framework of teamwork were able to account for statements made by operational commanders regarding interdisciplinary team collaboration. Semi-structured SWOT interviews were conducted with 17 operational commanders from Oslo and districts in South-Eastern Norway. Using a mixed model approach, the interviews were transcribed, unitized and coded into the categories of the two chosen frameworks. The results showed that neither the individual frameworks nor the combination of the two could account for all statements that were made by the operational commanders. A content analysis of the statements not accounted for by the frameworks yield several important themes that were regarded as important for teamwork and collaboration within the Incident Command Post. The results provide insight to the complexity involved in emergencies and in the emergency response work. Furthermore, the study can contribute to a better understanding of important aspect of teamwork within the work domain.
