Opin vísindi

Patient handover between ambulance crew and healthcare professionals in Icelandic emergency departments: A qualitative study

Patient handover between ambulance crew and healthcare professionals in Icelandic emergency departments: A qualitative study


Titill: Patient handover between ambulance crew and healthcare professionals in Icelandic emergency departments: A qualitative study
Höfundur: Duason, Sveinbjorn   orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-9003
Gunnarsson, Björn
Svavarsdóttir, Margrét Hrönn   orcid.org/0000-0001-6609-6808
Útgáfa: 2021-01-28
Tungumál: Enska
Umfang: 1-11
Háskóli/Stofnun: Háskólinn á Akureyri
University of Akureyri
Svið: Heilbrigðisvísindasvið (HA)
School of Health Sciences (UA)
Deild: Hjúkrunarfræðideild (HA)
Faculty of Nursing (UA)
Heilbrigðisvísindastofnun (HA)
Research Centre for Health Science (UA)
Birtist í: Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine;29(1)
ISSN: 1757-7241
DOI: 10.1186/s13049-021-00829-x
Efnisorð: Ambulance services; Emergency department; Healthcare professionals; Communication; Sjúkraflutningar; Bráðamóttaka; Heilbrigðisstéttir; Samskipti
URI: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11815/2453

Skoða fulla færslu

Tilvitnun:

Dúason, S., Gunnarsson, B. og Svavarsdóttir, M. H. (2021). Patient handover between ambulance crew and healthcare professionals in Icelandic emergency departments: A qualitative study. Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine, 29(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13049-021-00829-x

Útdráttur:

Background: Ambulance services play an important role in the healthcare system when it comes to handling accidents or acute illnesses outside of hospitals. At the time of patient handover from emergency medical technicians (EMTs) to the nurses and physicians in emergency departments (EDs), there is a risk that important information will be lost, the consequences of which may adversely affect patient well-being. The study aimed to describe healthcare professionals’ experience of patient handovers between ambulance and ED staff and to identify factors that can affect patient handover quality. Methods: The Vancouver School’s phenomenological method was used. The participants were selected using purposive sampling from a group of Icelandic EMTs, nurses, and physicians who had experience in patient handovers. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted and were supported by an interview guide. The participants included 17 EMTs, nurses, and physicians. The process of patient handover was described from the participants’ perspectives, including examples of communication breakdown and best practices. Results: Four main themes and nine subthemes were identified. In the theme of leadership, the participants expressed that it was unclear who was responsible for the patient and when during the process the responsibility was transferred between healthcare professionals. The theme of structured framework described the communication between healthcare professionals before patient’s arrival at the ED, upon ED arrival, and a written patient report. The professional competencies theme covered the participants’ descriptions of professional competences in relation to education and training and attitudes towards other healthcare professions and patients. The collaboration theme included the importance of effective teamwork and positive learning environment. Conclusions: A lack of structured communication procedures and ambiguity about patient responsibility in patient handovers from EMTs to ED healthcare professionals may compromise patient safety. Promoting accountability, mitigating the diffusion of responsibility, and implementing uniform practices may improve patient handover practices and establish a culture of integrated patient-centered care.

Leyfi:

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.

Skrár

Þetta verk birtist í eftirfarandi safni/söfnum: