AMBULANCE-TO-EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT HANDOVER: AN INTERPRETIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

Background and Aim : Introduction: Patient handover refers to the transfer of patient careinformation and responsibility from one care provider or team to another, which plays an importantrole in patients’ safety and care; and any mistake in this process could harm patients. Objective:This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of emergency medical technicians on patienthandover to the emergency departments.Methods : Methods: Over a period of five months an interpretative phenomenological analysiswas used to explore the lived experiences of 8 emergency medical technicians in Tabriz, Iran.Semistructured interviews were conducted in the emergency medical stations applying Smith sapproach for data collection and analysis.Results : Results: There were three super-ordinate themes that emerged from the data analysisincluding: Handover Facilitators , Handover Inhibitors , and EMT is only a Driver . A furthereleven sub-ordinate themes emerged under the main themes.Conclusion : Conclusion: To prevent any mistake in the process of patient handover, issues suchas the presence of some people in front of the emergency departments door to welcome the patientand the technician in all hospitals, removal of structural defects as well as defective hospitalequipment, the presence of accessories such as neck collars in emergency triage to prevent thetechnician from stumbling and wandering, and listening to technician by doctors and nurses toobtain the patients’ history, can be suggested.

AMBULANCE-TO-EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT HANDOVER: AN INTERPRETIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS Keywords:

Key Words: Patient Handover , Emergency Medical Technicians , Emergency Department , Nurses , Physicians