Understanding good communication in ambulance pre-alerts to the emergency department: findings from a qualitative study of UK emergency services.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Prehospital notifications (pre-alerts) enable emergency department (ED) staff to prepare for the arrival of patients requiring a time-critical response. Effective communication of the pre-alert is key to enabling the ED to prepare appropriately, but evidence on communication practices is lacking. We undertook qualitative research to understand how pre-alert communication may be improved to optimise the ED response for pre-alerted patients.

Design, setting and participants

Data collection took place within three UK Ambulance Services and six EDs between August 2022 and April 2023. We undertook semi-structured interviews with 34 ambulance and 40 ED staff and 156 hours non-participation observation of pre-alert practice (143 pre-alerts). Verbatim interview transcript

SUBMITTER: Sampson FC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11751996 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature