Patients’ perceptions of safety in emergency medical services: an interview study

Abstract

BackgroundResearch on patient safety in emergency medical services (EMS) has mainly focused on the organisation’s and/or the EMS personnel’s perspective. Little is known about how patients perceive safety in EMS. This study aims to describe the patients’ experiences of their sense of safety in EMS.MethodsA qualitative design with individual interviews of EMS patients (n=21) and an inductive qualitative content analysis were used.ResultsPatients’ experiences of EMS personnel’s ability or inability to show or use their medical, technical and driving skills affected the patients’ sense of safety. When they perceived a lack of professionalism and knowledge among EMS personnel, they felt unsafe. Patients highlighted equality in the encounter, the quality of the information given by EMS personnel and the opportunity to participate in their care as important factors creating a sense of safety during the EMS encounter. Altogether, patients’ perceptions of safety in EMS were connected to their confidence in the EMS personnel.ConclusionsOverall, patients felt safe during their EMS encounter, but the EMS personnel’s professional competence alone is not enough for them to feel safe. Lack of communication or professionalism may compromise their sense of safety. Further work is needed to explore how patients’ perceptions of safety can be used in improving safety in EMS.

Driving the ambulance: an essential component of emergency medical services: an integrative review

“…By using seatbelts or stretcher belts and securing all loose items on board, one study found that the consequences of a crash could be mitigated [ 12 ]. In addition, such a procedure instilled a feeling of being safe among the patients [ 12 , 23 ]. The perceived driving skills of the ambulance driver also increased the patient’s feeling of being safe [ 23 ].…”

“…In addition, such a procedure instilled a feeling of being safe among the patients [ 12 , 23 ]. The perceived driving skills of the ambulance driver also increased the patient’s feeling of being safe [ 23 ].…”

Using Routine Ambulance Inspection Report Application to Reduce Wasted Time in Emergency Medical Services

“…In addition, ambulance safety is critical because delaying ambulance inspection can pose a safety potential risk to both staff and patients using the service. Thus, by converting the process to this application, the supervisors have access to real-time reporting, resulting in immediate decision-making [5], [8], [10]. According to the study results, recognition time and action time in the application groups (wasted time) were reduced to almost 1 h per ambulance inspection.…”

“…This information is aimed at both hospital personnel and the individual concerning ambulance safety to reduce both loss of life and morbidity [5], [6], [7]. It was also found that when ambulance inspections took place in full, such actions by the operator made the patient feel safer [8], [9], [10]. The use of incident reporting applications instead of paper reports plays an important role in both real-time reporting and the ability to assess the consistency of reporting.…”

Prehospital nursing students' experiences of patient safety culture in emergency medical services—A qualitative study

“…From the patient safety point of view, it has also been found that managers' own behaviour can influence the quality of care and adverse events (Labrague, 2021 ). On the contrary, the way patients are treated during the EMS mission and how they are kept informed affect their experience of safety (Péculo‐Carrasco et al, 2020 ; Venesoja et al, 2020 ). These could be seen as a manifestation of levels of shared ways of thinking (or social processes) but also a collective sensemaking and deeper shared assumptions (or psychological dimension) and the effect of both levels on patient safety.…”