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Experience of using video support by prehospital emergency care physician in ambulance care - an interview study with prehospital emergency nurses in Sweden

Vicente, Veronica ; Johansson, Anders LU ; Selling, Magnus ; Johansson, Johnny ; Möller, Sebastian LU and Todorova, Lizbet LU (2021) In BMC Emergency Medicine 21(1).
Abstract

Introduction: When in need of emergency care and ambulance services, the ambulance nurse is often the first point of contact for the patient with healthcare. This role requires comprehensive knowledge of the ambulance nurse to be able to assign the right level of care and, if necessary, to provide self-care advice for patients with no further conveyance to hospital. Recently, an application was developed for transmitting real-time video to facilitate consultation between ambulance nurses and prehospital physicians in the role of regional medical support (RMS) for ambulance care. The use of video communication as a complement of medical support when referring to self-care is still an unexplored method in a prehospital setting. Our study... (More)

Introduction: When in need of emergency care and ambulance services, the ambulance nurse is often the first point of contact for the patient with healthcare. This role requires comprehensive knowledge of the ambulance nurse to be able to assign the right level of care and, if necessary, to provide self-care advice for patients with no further conveyance to hospital. Recently, an application was developed for transmitting real-time video to facilitate consultation between ambulance nurses and prehospital physicians in the role of regional medical support (RMS) for ambulance care. The use of video communication as a complement of medical support when referring to self-care is still an unexplored method in a prehospital setting. Our study aimed to elucidate ambulance nurses’ experience of video consultation with RMS physician during the assessment of patients considered to be triaged to self-care. Method: We conducted a qualitative design study using semi-structured interviews with open questions. Twelve ambulance nurses were included in the study. To explore the ambulance nurses’ experience of performing video consultation with RMS physician, in cases when a patient was assessed and triaged to self-care, a content analysis was performed. Results: A main category emerged from the results: “ Video consultation as decision support in the ambulance care promotes increased patient participation and for the ambulance nurses, it creates a feeling of increased patient safety “. The main category was based and formed on the following categories: “ Simultaneous presence of ambulance nurse and a physician increases patient participation during the assessment resulting in a confident care decision “. “Interprofessional collaboration strengthens the medical assessment”. “Video technology promotes accessibility for patients needs in the ambulance care regardless of emergency level”. Conclusions: Ambulance nurses experienced that the use of video consultation increases patient involvement and confidence in healthcare when both the ambulance nurse and the physician were present when deciding on self-care advice. The live imaging allowed the ambulance nurse and prehospital physician to reach a consensus on the patient’s current medical care needs, which in turn led to a feeling of increased patient safety for the ambulance nurses.

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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Ambulance nurse, Patient safety, Physician participation, Prehospital care, Teamwork, Video consultation
in
BMC Emergency Medicine
volume
21
issue
1
article number
44
publisher
BioMed Central (BMC)
external identifiers
  • scopus:85103997502
  • pmid:33827436
ISSN
1471-227X
DOI
10.1186/s12873-021-00435-1
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
643b77a1-5c92-4775-9e68-26da72fa4ef9
date added to LUP
2021-04-20 09:40:03
date last changed
2024-06-16 12:38:45
@article{643b77a1-5c92-4775-9e68-26da72fa4ef9,
  abstract     = {{<p>Introduction: When in need of emergency care and ambulance services, the ambulance nurse is often the first point of contact for the patient with healthcare. This role requires comprehensive knowledge of the ambulance nurse to be able to assign the right level of care and, if necessary, to provide self-care advice for patients with no further conveyance to hospital. Recently, an application was developed for transmitting real-time video to facilitate consultation between ambulance nurses and prehospital physicians in the role of regional medical support (RMS) for ambulance care. The use of video communication as a complement of medical support when referring to self-care is still an unexplored method in a prehospital setting. Our study aimed to elucidate ambulance nurses’ experience of video consultation with RMS physician during the assessment of patients considered to be triaged to self-care. Method: We conducted a qualitative design study using semi-structured interviews with open questions. Twelve ambulance nurses were included in the study. To explore the ambulance nurses’ experience of performing video consultation with RMS physician, in cases when a patient was assessed and triaged to self-care, a content analysis was performed. Results: A main category emerged from the results: “ Video consultation as decision support in the ambulance care promotes increased patient participation and for the ambulance nurses, it creates a feeling of increased patient safety “. The main category was based and formed on the following categories: “ Simultaneous presence of ambulance nurse and a physician increases patient participation during the assessment resulting in a confident care decision “. “Interprofessional collaboration strengthens the medical assessment”. “Video technology promotes accessibility for patients needs in the ambulance care regardless of emergency level”. Conclusions: Ambulance nurses experienced that the use of video consultation increases patient involvement and confidence in healthcare when both the ambulance nurse and the physician were present when deciding on self-care advice. The live imaging allowed the ambulance nurse and prehospital physician to reach a consensus on the patient’s current medical care needs, which in turn led to a feeling of increased patient safety for the ambulance nurses.</p>}},
  author       = {{Vicente, Veronica and Johansson, Anders and Selling, Magnus and Johansson, Johnny and Möller, Sebastian and Todorova, Lizbet}},
  issn         = {{1471-227X}},
  keywords     = {{Ambulance nurse; Patient safety; Physician participation; Prehospital care; Teamwork; Video consultation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
  series       = {{BMC Emergency Medicine}},
  title        = {{Experience of using video support by prehospital emergency care physician in ambulance care - an interview study with prehospital emergency nurses in Sweden}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12873-021-00435-1}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/s12873-021-00435-1}},
  volume       = {{21}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}