Hur påverkas patientsäkerheten av ambulanssjuksköterskans fysiska förmåga?

Background: One of the ambulance nurse's six core competences is safe care. Safe care meansto conduct care without any unwanted consequences for the patient, their next of kin or anypersonnel from the ambulance team. The environment in the prehospital setting is complex andcontains physical challenges for the ambulance nurse. There is a lot of research on how theambulance nurses safety is affected by their physical ability but there is a lack of research onhow the patient safety is affected. Aim: To explore how patient safety is affected by thephysical ability of the ambulance nurse. Method: A qualitative interview study based on acontent analysis. The participants were eight nurses specializing in ambulance care. Results:The results show that the ambulance nurse's different physical conditions had both positive andnegative effects on patient safety. It was of great importance to have self-awareness of one'sphysical conditions in order to avoid performing risky actions. When the physical ability wasinsufficient, methods such as mobility equipment and help from colleagues were used topreserve the patient safety. Conclusion: It is difficult for ambulance nurses to have a physicalability that meets all patient needs, thus the ambulance nurse was faced with situations wherethe patient care risked not being patient safe. In the case of time-critical patients, they thereforeneeded to weigh up whether the risk of injury during the patient care was less than delaying thetime at the scene in the event of serious injury or illness