{"id":9351,"date":"2022-08-30T22:24:33","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T22:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/?p=9351"},"modified":"2022-08-31T09:23:20","modified_gmt":"2022-08-31T09:23:20","slug":"badsam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2022\/08\/30\/badsam\/","title":{"rendered":"BadSAM"},"content":{"rendered":"
Last night my phone scared the bejesus out of me.<\/p>\n

At the end of July I requalified as a First Aider<\/a>. As soon as I received my certificate I uploaded it to the GoodSAM app<\/a> to reactivate my account. GoodSAM is a service where anyone who is suitably qualified can be alerted as a first responder if an ambulance or paramedic can\u2019t get to a location quickly enough.<\/p>\n

The concept is brilliant. The app is terrible.<\/p>\n

Last night\u2019s alert did its job. It was loud and made me jump out of my skin. Once I\u2019d worked out what was going on, the app showed me where the incident was and asked whether I wanted to accept or reject it. I accepted, and was then shown a chat window with an address, age and sex of the person who was in trouble. As I put my shoes on and grabbed my CPR face mask I saw another person message on the chat to say that they were on their way. I guessed that they could see my messages so I said I was also heading there, but every time I wrote on the chat I got an automatic response to say that the chat wasn\u2019t monitored.<\/p>\n

I quickly found the house. Fortunately, the casualty was stood in their doorway, talking on the phone and already feeling better. About five minutes later another GoodSAM first responder turned up \u2014 the same person from the chat who had said that he was on his way. The casualty felt very upset about having called out a few volunteers to her house; the main job was therefore to reassure her that it was absolutely fine and that we were glad to help. What we couldn\u2019t<\/em> tell her was whether anyone else would be coming to see her. We don\u2019t work for the ambulance service, and nothing on the app gave us any clue as to how to find out if a medical professional would be on their way. She called her sister to reassure her that she was feeling better, and then passed the phone to me; I felt like a wally as I was unable to tell her sister whether anyone would or wouldn\u2019t be coming.<\/p>\n

What the app did show me was this:<\/p>\n

\"GoodSAM

GoodSAM buttons<\/p><\/div>\n

This user interface is terrible<\/strong>. I pressed the button marked \u2018On scene\u2019. The text then changed to \u2018No longer on scene\u2019, but the button didn\u2019t change appearance. I couldn\u2019t make it out \u2014 did the words indicate a status, with the app showing that I was now no longer on the scene, or did I need to press the button to tell people that I am no longer on the scene? There was no other indicator anywhere in the app to say that a message had been sent to anyone. (And what on earth does \u2018Show Metronom\u2019 mean? I didn\u2019t press it to find out.)<\/p>\n

After fifteen minutes or so, two paramedics arrived. The two of us explained that we were GoodSAM first responders, which was the last interaction that we had with anybody. Baffled, we walked away from the scene complaining about how rubbish the GoodSAM app was. The other responder said that he thought up to two people get alerted for any given incident, but this seemed to be guesswork based on experience rather than knowing this for sure.<\/p>\n

I checked the app again a while later and found something under the \u2018Reports\u2019 tab. It also showed a whole bunch of unread notifications from my previous stint as a first responder about five years ago:<\/p>\n

\"Reports?

Reports? Alerts? Feedback?<\/p><\/div>\n

Swiping left on the latest alert gave me a form to complete which included a plethora of fields whose labels didn\u2019t make any sense to me. I had to answer questions such as whether the casualty lived, died, or is still being treated. How would I know, if I had left the scene an hour ago?<\/p>\n

\"Outcome.

Outcome. I\u2019ve no idea which of the bottom three options was the correct one to pick.<\/p><\/div>\n

What happens with this report? Who gets it and reviews it? I have no idea, and the app offers no clues.<\/p>\n

I now have a chat thread called \u2018Organisational messages\u2019 which is another example of how confusing the application is. The the messages that I and the other responder sent are no longer visible, but some messages from 2018 are. It\u2019s so random.<\/p>\n

\"What

What will now disappear from my device?<\/p><\/div>\n

I love<\/em> that this app exists and that it allows me to put my first aid skills to good use. I am sure that it has saved lives by getting skilled first aiders to casualties quickly. I just don\u2019t understand how the interface can be so dreadful, and how it hasn\u2019t improved in all the years that it has been available. NHS Trusts are paying to use this service, but I am not sure they are aware about how awful the experience is.<\/div>\n

Last night my phone scared the bejesus out of me. At the end of July I requalified as a First Aider. As soon as I received my certificate I uploaded it to the GoodSAM app to reactivate my account. GoodSAM is a service where anyone who is suitably qualified can be alerted as a first […]<\/div>\n<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"webmentions_disabled_pings":false,"webmentions_disabled":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9351","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-technology","7":"h-entry","9":"hentry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9565,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2022\/10\/18\/9565\/","url_meta":{"origin":9351,"position":0},"title":"Nearly had a heart attack\u2026","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"18 October 2022","format":"status","excerpt":"Nearly had a heart attack twice last night \u2014 ironically \u2014 when the GoodSAM app went off. I love being part of the service, but I can't seem to find a way to mute it at night. Ambulance services must be really struggling as I've had three alerts in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Snippets"","block_context":{"text":"Snippets","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/category\/snippets\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9405,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2022\/09\/19\/weeknotes-186-half-mast\/","url_meta":{"origin":9351,"position":1},"title":"Weeknotes #186 \u2014 Half mast","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"19 September 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The feeling of everything being on top of me continued into this week. I really struggled at the start. I could feel myself getting frustrated and a little snappy in a couple of meetings where I felt that we weren\u2019t being efficient, knowing that I still had a pile of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Weeknotes"","block_context":{"text":"Weeknotes","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/category\/weeknotes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/DraggedImage-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/DraggedImage-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/DraggedImage-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/DraggedImage-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/DraggedImage-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10988,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2024\/07\/01\/weeknotes-279-disappearing-basic\/","url_meta":{"origin":9351,"position":2},"title":"Weeknotes #279 \u2014 Disappearing Basic","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"1 July 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The final week of June saw increased pressure on my projects. In just a few weeks\u2019 time, the work we have been discussing for the past half a year will get put into action. People have started to understand that it will impact them. Understandably, there are requests for even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Weeknotes"","block_context":{"text":"Weeknotes","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/category\/weeknotes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Big red sign with white wording that says \u201cSTOP NO ENTRY\u201d, fastened to a wooden gate.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Image-01-07-2024-07-15.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Image-01-07-2024-07-15.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Image-01-07-2024-07-15.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Image-01-07-2024-07-15.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Image-01-07-2024-07-15.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Image-01-07-2024-07-15.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12747,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2025\/11\/26\/weeknotes-352-doing-thought-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":9351,"position":3},"title":"Weeknotes #352 \u2014 Doing thought work","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"26 November 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"A regular week, back in the office after last week\u2019s trip to Barcelona. 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My wife was away on a residential trip for the first half of the week, giving the children a wonderful experience to remember whilst getting very little sleep in the process. This meant that I was home alone with the boys for the first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Weeknotes"","block_context":{"text":"Weeknotes","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/category\/weeknotes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"I had it working last week. 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