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A Prehospital Emergency Psychiatric Unit in an Ambulance Care Service from the Perspective of Prehospital Emergency Nurses : A Qualitative Study

Todorova, Lizbet ; Johansson, Anders and Ivarsson, Bodil LU (2022) In Healthcare 10(1).
Abstract

The prevalence of mental illness is steadily increasing, and ambulance teams frequently attend cases with suspected mental illness. A pilot project, Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (PAP), was carried out in which a prehospital emergency nurse (PEN) was accompanied by a psychiatric specialist nurse in the assessment of individuals with mental illness. The aim of the present study was to evaluate a prehospital emergency psychiatric unit from the perspective of PENs. A qualitative method using content analysis was applied. Seven senior PENs who had worked for 1 year in a prehospital psychiatric ambulance unit were interviewed individually. The analysis resulted in one main theme, “Transition from limited care and insufficient... (More)

The prevalence of mental illness is steadily increasing, and ambulance teams frequently attend cases with suspected mental illness. A pilot project, Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (PAP), was carried out in which a prehospital emergency nurse (PEN) was accompanied by a psychiatric specialist nurse in the assessment of individuals with mental illness. The aim of the present study was to evaluate a prehospital emergency psychiatric unit from the perspective of PENs. A qualitative method using content analysis was applied. Seven senior PENs who had worked for 1 year in a prehospital psychiatric ambulance unit were interviewed individually. The analysis resulted in one main theme, “Transition from limited care and insufficient competence to improved and adequate care for psychiatric patients in ambulance care”. This emerged from six subcategories: inter-professional development, access to patient records, the ambulance vehicle, non-conveyed patients, cooperation with the police and meetings with patients and next of kin. In conclusion, these results suggest that in ambulance care in general, there is a lack of knowledge and skills about mental illnesses and initial care options. The PAP concept opened new avenues for the care of patients with mental illness, which the PENs described very positively as being helpful and valuable.

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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Ambulance services, Competence, Content analysis, Interprofessional, Mental illness, Non-conveyance, Prehospital emergency care, Psychiatric care, Specialist nurse, Team
in
Healthcare
volume
10
issue
1
article number
50
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • pmid:35052214
  • scopus:85122013264
ISSN
2227-9032
DOI
10.3390/healthcare10010050
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
56923fac-f26a-4dc5-8e56-ad0a2862de47
date added to LUP
2022-02-28 15:07:57
date last changed
2024-06-22 15:36:09
@article{56923fac-f26a-4dc5-8e56-ad0a2862de47,
  abstract     = {{<p>The prevalence of mental illness is steadily increasing, and ambulance teams frequently attend cases with suspected mental illness. A pilot project, Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (PAP), was carried out in which a prehospital emergency nurse (PEN) was accompanied by a psychiatric specialist nurse in the assessment of individuals with mental illness. The aim of the present study was to evaluate a prehospital emergency psychiatric unit from the perspective of PENs. A qualitative method using content analysis was applied. Seven senior PENs who had worked for 1 year in a prehospital psychiatric ambulance unit were interviewed individually. The analysis resulted in one main theme, “Transition from limited care and insufficient competence to improved and adequate care for psychiatric patients in ambulance care”. This emerged from six subcategories: inter-professional development, access to patient records, the ambulance vehicle, non-conveyed patients, cooperation with the police and meetings with patients and next of kin. In conclusion, these results suggest that in ambulance care in general, there is a lack of knowledge and skills about mental illnesses and initial care options. The PAP concept opened new avenues for the care of patients with mental illness, which the PENs described very positively as being helpful and valuable.</p>}},
  author       = {{Todorova, Lizbet and Johansson, Anders and Ivarsson, Bodil}},
  issn         = {{2227-9032}},
  keywords     = {{Ambulance services; Competence; Content analysis; Interprofessional; Mental illness; Non-conveyance; Prehospital emergency care; Psychiatric care; Specialist nurse; Team}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Healthcare}},
  title        = {{A Prehospital Emergency Psychiatric Unit in an Ambulance Care Service from the Perspective of Prehospital Emergency Nurses : A Qualitative Study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10010050}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/healthcare10010050}},
  volume       = {{10}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}