Emergency Medicine: Open Access
Open Access

Abstract

Development of the Pre-hospital Emergency Care, The Registered Nurses' Role in the Ambulance Service- A Swedish Perspective

Skogvold Sören, Wiking Linda and Lindström Veronica

 

In order to increase the medical competence in the ambulance service the National Board of Health and Welfare in Sweden stated in the year 2000 that every ambulance should be manned by at least one Registered Nurse (RN), and the rule entered into force in 2005. Now, nearly ten years have passed, and a question arises: how has the ambulance service and pre-hospital care developed since RNs became part of the ambulance service? Therefore the aim of this study was to explore how the ambulance services have developed since RNs became a part of the pre-hospital emergency care provided by the ambulance service. An explorative descriptive design was used. Data collection was carried out by a focus group interview and through a review of medical guidelines written by the medical directors and

used in the years 1999, 2006 and 2015. A content analysis was conducted based on the collected data. The results shows how the pre-hospital emergency care has developed since RNs started to work in the ambulance service. The main areas of development concerned assessment of patients’ illness and injury, medical treatment, and steering to an optimal level of care, together creating conditions for care based on the individual patient needs. These findings may indicate an increasing independence in decision making among pre-hospital personnel after the RNs become a part of the ambulance service.