Digital documentation platforms in prehospital care - Do they support the nursing care

Abstract

This study examines and describe the ambulance nurse’s experience of nursing documentation in single responder and the transfer of the documentation to other care levels. A qualitative design was used with focus group interviews as data collection method to enhance knowledge of the everyday experience of nursing documentation. The ambulance service in Sweden is a profession in transition that evolved from being a transport organization to provide advanced medical care and nursing. However, all patients do not need advanced medical treatment and the Single responder is an alternative resource to the ambulance that is used when no life-threatening conditions exists. However, the nurse faces a number of challenges when documenting nursing care interventions related to technological development and the mismatch between the care offered and people's demands and needs. Even though nursing care documentation is key to enhance and develop patient safety within a young field as ambulance service. There is a lack of a coherent documentation system and two themes emerged through content analyzes which conveyed how nursing care becomes invisible and how nursing care interventions are communicated through a hidden language. There are serious shortcomings in the transfer of nursing documentation to other care levels as well as deficiencies in the nursing documentation. Which jeopardizes the quality of care and patient safety as well as a systematic development of nursing care in this field.