The relationship with the ambulance clinicians as experienced by significant others.

BACKGROUND: Interpersonal relationships between clinicians and patients are important aspects of the ambulance care, requiring a balance between objectified acute medical treatment and a holistic care. Being a significant other (SO) in the ambulance care setting is described as being caught between hope and dread. Little research has focused on SOs' experiences of the relationship with the ambulance clinicians. AIM: To elucidate meanings of the relationship with the clinicians in the ambulance care setting as experienced by the patients' SOs. DESIGN: Qualitative lifeworld design. METHODS: Data was collected using open-ended interviews with nine SOs. The verbatim transcribed interviews were analysed with a phenomenological hermeneutic method. FINDINGS: The structural analysis resulted in one main theme: 'Being lonely together'. The main theme comprises three themes: 'Being in a shared struggle', 'To hand over the affected person in trust' and 'Being the second person in focus' and six subthemes. The main theme is for the SOs to share the struggles of the affected person with the ambulance clinicians and to be comforted while handing over the responsibility for the affected person. Hence the SO is excluded and lonely and on his/her own, while not the primary focus of the ambulance clinicians. CONCLUSIONS: The relationship with the ambulance clinicians from the perspective of the SOs can be understood as complex, involving both being lonely and together at the same time. The findings support a holistic approach towards the ambulance care involving SOs. RELEVANCE FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE: This study outlines the importance of an emergency ambulance care involving SOs as affected persons and supports a balance between emergency medical treatment to the patient and a holistic care, involving the SOs' suffering.

Ambulance clinicians' experiences of relationships with patients and significant others.

BACKGROUND: Ambulance clinicians (ACs) have to provide advanced care and treatment to patients in a challenging and emotionally demanding environment, therefore they establish interpersonal relationships embracing both patients and significant others. Relationships in emergency care were earlier found to be short-lived and lacking a holistic understanding of the patient. In their relationship with the ambulance clinicians, it is for patients to surrender and become dependent, which may be interpreted as both a negative and a positive experience. AIM: The aim of this study was to elucidate ambulance clinicians' experiences of relationships with patients and significant others. METHODS: Data were collected from four focus group conversations, with a total of 18 participating ambulance clinicians. An inductive qualitative content analysis method was chosen. FINDINGS: The analysis resulted in one main category: 'To be personal in a professional role' and three generic categories: 'To be there for the affected person', 'To be personally involved' and 'To have a professional mission'. There were subsequently nine sub-categories. The main category was described as intertwining the experience of being both personal and professional. The ambulance clinicians adapt to a situation while having the affected person in focus. They involve themselves as persons but at the same time use the power of their professional role. CONCLUSION: The relationship with patients and significant others from the ambulance clinicians' perspective can be understood as embracing both personal and professional aspects. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: This study provides an understanding of the ambulance clinicians' professional role as embracing a personal perspective, which is important when developing an emergency ambulance service focusing on care that involves more than just emergency medical treatment.

To surrender in dependence of another: the relationship with the ambulance clinicians as experienced by patients.

Historically, the ambulance care has focused on acute transports and medical treatment, although ambulance care has also been reported as complex, encompassing more than just medical treatment and transports. Previous studies, on ambulance clinicians, have pointed out the importance of interpersonal caring activities complementary to the medical treatment. Those activities can be understood as taking part in the relationship between patients and ambulance clinicians, earlier described as essential and a core component of care. The aim of this study was to elucidate the meaning of the relationship with the ambulance clinicians as experienced by patients. Twenty ambulance patients were interviewed in the study. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed with a phenomenological hermeneutical method to grasp meanings in the patients' experiences. The regional ethical committee approved the study. In the result emerged one main theme: To surrender in dependence of another. The main theme includes four themes: Being in the hands of another, Being in a caring temporary presence, Being important while involved and Being powerless while insignificant, and the themes comprise eleven subthemes. The main theme meant to have no other option than to surrender and to put their life into the hand of another. This surrender also meant to adapt to the clinicians' views even if not shared. This is experienced as excessive care. Summarised, the patients' experiences were both positive and negative and the findings provide a complex understanding of the relationship between the patient and the ambulance clinicians. Overall, the relationship embraces the whole person without reducing the patient to be a recipient of an objectified ambulance care.

Acute chest pain emergencies - spouses' prehospital experiences.

The call to the Emergency Medical Dispatch Centre is often a person's first contact with the health-care system in cases of acute illness or injury and acute chest pain is a common reason for calling. The aim was to illuminate how spouses to persons with acute chest pain experienced the alarm situation, the emergency call and the prehospital emergency care. Interviews were conducted with nineteen spouses. A phenomenological-hermeneutic approach was used for the analyses. The themes responsibility and uneasiness emerged as well as an overall theme of aloneness. Being a spouse to a person in need of acute medical and nursing assistance was interpreted as "Being responsible and trying to preserve life" and "Being able to manage the uneasiness and having trust in an uncertain situation." When their partners' life was at risk the spouses were in an escalating spiral of worry, uncertainty, stress, fear of loss, feeling of loneliness and desperation. They had to manage emotional distress and felt compelled to act to preserve life, a challenging situation.

Experiences of adding nurses to increase medical competence at an emergency medical dispatch centre.

INTRODUCTION: Prehospital care begins when the call is placed to the emergency medical dispatch (EMD) centre and ends when the patient is cared for at the emergency department. The highly technical and specialized character demands advanced medical competence. Communication problems, serious and unpredictable situations can often occur during the emergency calls. A two-year intervention study involved the addition of registered nurses to an EMD-centre team to increase medical competence. AIM: To describe registered nurses' and emergency-operators' experiences of working together at an EMD-centre after adding registered nurses to increase medical competence. METHODS: Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the text from interviews with four registered nurses and 15 emergency-operators involved in the intervention. RESULTS: Initial frustration and scepticism changed to more positive experiences that resulted in improved cooperation and service. The registered nurses had difficulties dealing with the more urgently acute calls, while the emergency-operators had difficulties with the more complicated, somewhat diffuse cases. The two professions complemented each other. CONCLUSION: Combining the registered nurses' and emergency-operators' knowledge and experience at an EMD-centre can perhaps improve the prehospital care for those requiring emergency medical care.

Patients with acute chest pain - experiences of emergency calls and pre-hospital care.

Acute chest pain is a common reason why people call an emergency medical dispatch (EMD) centre. We examined how patients with acute chest pain experience the emergency call and their pre-hospital care. A qualitative design was used with a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach. Thirteen patients were interviewed, three women and 10 men. The patients were grateful that their lives had been saved and in general were satisfied with their pre-hospital contact. Sometimes they felt that it took too long for the emergency operators to answer and to understand the urgency. They were in a life-threatening situation and their feeling of vulnerability and dependency was great. Time seemed to stand still while they were waiting for help during their traumatic experience. The situation was fraught with pain, fear and an experience of loneliness. A sense of individualized care is important to strengthen trust and confidence between the patient and the pre-hospital personnel. Patients were aware of what number to call to reach the EMD centre, but were uncertain about when to call. More lives can be saved if people do not hesitate to call for help.

Operators' experiences of emergency calls.

In Sweden, the operators at emergency dispatch centres are responsible for allocating resources (e.g. ambulances, fire brigade, police) in response to calls. We analysed situations that the emergency operators experienced as difficult and their reflections on how they managed them. Interviews were conducted with all 16 emergency operators at a centre that serves a population of 275,000 and receives about 700,000 emergency calls annually. A phenomenological-hermeneutic approach was used for the analysis. Situations that operators experienced as difficult were characterized by uncertainty, communication difficulties and insufficient resources. Skills, knowledge and experience were regarded as important in the management of these situations, as were personal qualities such as sensitivity, insight, empathy and intuition. The emergency operators stated that they needed more guidance, feedback and education in their work. This would lead to an increased sense of certainty, which would lead to decreased stress and a better outcome for those in need.