“We are already person-centred in our practice”—A Qualitative Study of Ambulance Clinicians’ Experiences of Person-Centred Care

Abstract

The concept of person-centred care (PCC) is considered one of the core competencies in Swedish healthcare. It has increasingly spread and involves treating the patient as a person who is decision-competent and part of the team. The PCC concept has been introduced in the Swedish Ambulance Service setting, but as there has been no previous research on PCC in this context, the aim of the present study was to illuminate ambulance clinicians’ experiences of the introduction of PCC in a Swedish Ambulance Service setting. Data collection took the form of interviews with 15 ambulance clinicians in the southernmost part of Sweden. Qualitative content analysis was employed to analyse the interviews, wherein two categories emerged: organisational perspective and contextual culture. The latent meaning was interpreted as the theme: Seeing the individual in need of care as a person instead of a patient. In conclusion, the concept of PCC was considered a barrier and there was some resistance to its introduction. While PCC enhanced the ambulance clinicians’ stance, e.g., when initiating a caring relationship and encouraging the patient to participate in her/his care, it was also described as a catchphrase that is not applicable to the Ambulance Service as it contributes nothing new to the standard of treatment.

Care relationship and interaction between patients and ambulance clinicians: A qualitative meta‐synthesis from a person‐centred perspective

“…When one concentrated on the medical treatment, the other could focus on the patient's emotional needs, and related conversation became a natural and central part of the work. Working in a person‐centred way meant being engaged in activities that required ‘that little extra’, for example a conversation with patients [30]. To be able to give good medical treatment, it was important to treat patients with calmness and respect and to listen to patients actively without interruption.…”

“…The goal of decision-making concerning patient care and treatment was to make decisions together with patients [26,30,31,35]. ACs believed that strengthening patients' own ability to manage their own situation and treating patients as individuals by presenting different options before decisionmaking was important [26].…”