References

Alonso-Serra HM, Wesley K Prehospital pain management. Prehosp Emerg Care. 2003; 7:(4)482-488 https://doi.org/10.1080/312703002260

Bannister K, Kucharczyk M, Dickenson AH Hopes for the future of pain control. Pain Ther. 2017; 6:(2)117-128 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40122-017-0073-6

Biernacki P, Waldorf D Snowball sampling: problems and techniques of chain referral sampling. Sociol Methods Res. 1981; 10:(2)141-163 https://doi.org/10.1177/004912418101000205

Black A, McGlinchey T, Gambles M, Ellershaw J, Mayland CR The ‘lived experience’ of palliative care patients in one acute hospital setting – a qualitative study. BMC Palliat Care. 2018; 17:(1) https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-018-0345-x

Brorson H, Plymoth H, Örmon K, Bolmsjö I Pain relief at the end of life: nurses' experiences regarding end-of-life pain relief in patients with dementia. Pain Manag Nurs. 2014; 15:(1)315-323 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmn.2012.10.005

Clarke V, Braun V Thematic analysis. J Posit Psychol. 2017; 12:(3)297-298 https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2016.1262613

Creswell JW, Creswell JD Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches.Newbury Park (CA): Sage Publications; 2017

Darzi A High quality care for all.London: Department of Health; 2008

Denzin NK, Lincoln YS The Sage handbook of qualitative research, 4th edn. Newbury Park (CA): Sage; 2011

Denzin NK, Lincoln YS The Sage handbook of qualitative research, 5th edn. Newbury Park (CA): Sage; 2017

Doyle C, Lennox L, Bell D A systematic review of evidence on the links between patient experience and clinical safety and effectiveness. BMJ Open. 2013; 3:(1) https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2012-001570

Francis JJ, Johnston M, Robertson C What is an adequate sample size? Operationalising data saturation for theory-based interview studies. Psychol Health. 2010; 25:(10)1229-1245 https://doi.org/10.1080/08870440903194015

Gough S Welcoming paramedics into the national registration and accreditation scheme. Australasian Journal of Paramedicine. 2018; 15:(4) https://doi.org/10.33151/ajp.15.4.675

Greenwood E Attributes of a profession. In: Faszard B (ed). Rockville, MD: Aspen Systems; 1984

Halter M, Marlow T, Mohammed D, Ellison GT A patient survey of out-of-hours care provided by Emergency Care Practitioners. BMC Emerg Med. 2007; 7 https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-227X-7-4

Holmström MR, Junehag L, Velander S, Lundberg S, Ek B, Häggström M Nurses' experiences of prehospital care encounters with children in pain. Int Emerg Nurs. 2019; 43:23-28 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ienj.2018.07.004

Husserl E Phenomenology and the foundations of the sciences. Third book: ideas pertaining to a pure phenomenology and to a phenomenological philosophy.Norwell (MA): Springer Science and Business Media; 1980

Isaksson RM, Brulin C, Eliasson M, Näslund U, Zingmark K Prehospital experiences of older men with a first myocardial infarction: a qualitative analysis within the Northern Sweden MONICA Study. Scand J Caring Sci. 2011; 25:(4)787-797 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6712.2011.00896.x

Jankovic SM, Antonijevic GV, Vasic IR A rating instrument for fear of hospitalisation. J Clin Nurs. 2018; 27:(7–8)1431-1439 https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.14295

Jennings PA, Cameron P, Bernard S Epidemiology of prehospital pain: an opportunity for improvement. Emerg Med J. 2011; 28:(6)530-531 https://doi.org/10.1136/emj.2010.098954

Johnsen AT, Petersen MA, Snyder CF, Pedersen L, Groenvold M How does pain experience relate to the need for pain relief? A secondary exploratory analysis in a large sample of cancer patients. Support Care Cancer. 2016; 24:(10)4187-4195 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-016-3246-7

Knowlton A, Weir BW, Hughes BS Patient demographic and health factors associated with frequent use of emergency medical services in a midsized city. Acad Emerg Med. 2013; 20:(11)1101-1111 https://doi.org/10.1111/acem.12253

Liamputtong P Qualitative research methods, 4th edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2013

Lord B, Bendall J, Reinten T The influence of paramedic and patient gender on the administration of analgesics in the out-of-hospital setting. Prehosp Emerg Care. 2014; 18:(2)195-200 https://doi.org/10.3109/10903127.2013.856502

Marshall C, Rossman GB Designing qualitative research.Newbury Park (CA): Sage Publications; 2014

McBrien B Translating change: the development of a person-centred triage training programme for emergency nurses. Int Emerg Nurs. 2009; 17:(1)31-37 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ienj.2008.07.010

Morse JM, Barrett M, Mayan M, Olson K, Spiers J Verification strategies for establishing reliability and validity in qualitative research. Int J Qual Methods. 2002; 1:(2)13-22 https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690200100202

Munro GG, O'Meara P, Mathisen B Paramedic academics in Australia and New Zealand: the ‘no man's land’ of professional identity. Nurse Educ Pract. 2018; 33:33-36 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2018.08.006

O'Meara P Would a prehospital practitioner model improve patient care in rural Australia?. Emerg Med J. 2003; 20:(2)199-203 https://doi.org/10.1136/emj.20.2.199

Parker C, Scott S, Geddes A Snowball sampling.: SAGE Publications; 2019 https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526421036831710

Perry M, Usher K, Jackson D Global patient experience of paramedic practice. Int Paramed Pract. 2019; 9:(1)3-12 https://doi.org/10.12968/ippr.2019.9.1.3

An exploration of expanded paramedic healthcare roles for Queensland. 2006. https://tinyurl.com/2jwcvy7u (accessed 8 May 2025)

Ross LJ, Eade A, Shannon B, Williams B Out-of-hospital or pre-hospital: is it time to reconsider the language used to describe and define paramedicine?. Australas Emerg Care. 2022; 25:(3)177-178 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.auec.2022.01.002

Shale S Patient experience as an indicator of clinical quality in emergency care. Clin Gov. 2013; 18:(4)285-292 https://doi.org/10.1108/CGIJ-03-2012-0008

Story L Pathophysiology: A practical approach, 3rd edn. Burlington (MA): Jones and Bartlett Publishers; 2018

Swain AH, Hoyle SR, Long AW The changing face of prehospital care in New Zealand: the role of extended care paramedics. N Z Med J. 2010; 123:(1309)11-14

The Australian prehospital pandemic risk perception study and an examination of new public health roles in pandemic response for ambulance services. 2008. https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:204728 (accessed 8 May 2025)

Van Manen M Researching lived experience: human science for an action sensitive pedagogy.New York (NY): Suny Press; 1990

Van Manen M Researching lived experience: human science for an action sensitive pedagogy, 2nd edn. London, Ontario: Althouse Press; 1997

Van Manen M Researching lived experience: human science for an action sensitive pedagogy.New York (NY): Routledge; 2016

Research

Patients' lived experiences of paramedic interventions in southern England

02 June 2025
Research
02 June 2025
Volume 17 · Issue 6

Abstract

Objectives:

Taking patient experience into consideration is integral to providing high-quality healthcare. Paramedicine is developing rapidly and understanding what patients experience during a paramedic intervention is essential to the development of practice and the profession. The objective of this research is to explore patients' experience of paramedic interventions from their perspective.

Methods:

Qualitative, lived experience data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed through phenomenological thematic analysis. This allowed participants to express their experience in their own words. Data analysis was carried out alongside collection to assist with identification of data saturation and therefore sample size.

Results:

Patients' lived experience of paramedic interventions is characterised by four themes: action conquers fear; stop my pain; the journey starts here; and treat me as a person. Participants recognised that paramedic intervention is part of a journey of care.

Conclusions:

Patients of paramedics desire humane treatment, including pain reduction. They also place a high value on conspicuous action being taken, which reduces anxiety. Clinical competence and speed of response did not appear to feature in the data.

Paramedics intervene in the lives of patients to provide care and advice in a variety of settings during emergency and non-emergency situations. The experience of patients receiving a paramedic intervention has not been comprehensively described in the literature. This research addresses this by providing a broad insight into the experience of a person receiving a paramedic intervention during a perceived emergency in southern England.

Paramedic interventions tend to be brief and are often at the start of the patients' journey at a point of crisis (Swain et al, 2010; Munro et al, 2018; Ross et al, 2022). Understanding and learning from the experiences of patients at this point of crisis should be an integral part of providing care. Described as a pillar of high-quality care (Darzi, 2008; Doyle et al, 2013), the patient experience establishes a clear link between the voice of the service user and the clinician during patient-centred care.

Subscribe to get full access to the Journal of Paramedic Practice

Thank you for visiting the Journal of Paramedic Practice and reading our archive of expert clinical content. If you would like to read more from the only journal dedicated to those working in emergency care, you can start your subscription today for just £48.

What's included

  • CPD Focus

  • Develop your career

  • Stay informed

Register
Or continue by

Signing in with your registered email address

Prehospital care
Patient experience
Paramedic
Qualitative research