Patients’ experiences of prehospital care in non-life threatening situations

Undertaken in Sweden, this qualitative study focuses on patients’ experiences of prehospital care in non-traumatic, non life-threatening situations. In total, 20 patients were interviewed: 8 males and 12 females. Their ages ranged between 34 and 82 years and all of them had used the ambulance service in the three months prior to their interview.

The interviews explored two main areas: the event that led to someone calling for an ambulance including factors influencing the initial decision to use the ambulance service (this data is not reported here as it is included in a previous paper: Ahl et al, 2006); and the patients’ experiences of care once the ambulance had arrived (the focus of the current paper).

The interviews were carried out in the patients’ own homes and these were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim in preparation for analysis. Through processes of reflection and interpretation, the researcher scrutinised the data searching for similarities and differences.