Death and dying in pre-hospital care: what are the experiences and issues for pre-hospital practitioners, families and bystanders? A scoping review
Death and dying in pre-hospital care: what are the experiences and issues for pre-hospital practitioners, families and bystanders? A scoping review
Objective: To identify the factors that shape and characterise experiences of pre-hospital practitioners (PHPs), families, and bystanders in the context of death and dying outside of the hospital environment where PHPs respond.
Design: A scoping review using Arksey and O’Malley’s five-stage framework. Papers were analysed using thematic analysis
Data sources: MEDLINE; Embase; CINAHL; Scopus; Social Sciences Citation Index (Web of Science), ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I (Proquest), Health Technology Assessment (HTA) database; PsycINFO; Grey Literature Report and PapersFirst were searched from January 2000-May 2019.
Eligibility criteria for selecting studies: Qualitative and mixed method studies reporting the experiences of PHPs, families and bystanders of death and dying in pre-hospital settings as a result of natural causes, trauma, suicide and homicide, >18 years of age, in Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Results: Searches identified 15,352 papers of which 51 met the inclusion criteria. The review found substantial evidence of PHP experiences, except call-handlers, and papers reporting family and bystander experiences were limited. PHP work was varied and complex, whilst confident in clinical work, they felt less equipped to deal with the emotion work, especially with an increasing role in palliative and end-of-life care. Families and bystanders reported generally positive experiences but their support needs were rarely explored.
Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge this is the first review that explores the experiences of PHPs, families and bystanders. An important outcome is identifying current gaps in knowledge where further empirical research is needed. The paucity of evidence suggested by this review on call-handlers, families and bystanders presents opportunities to investigate their experiences in greater depth. Further research to address the current knowledge gaps will be important to inform future policy and practice.
accident & emergency medicine, palliative care, qualitative research
e036925
Myall, Michelle
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Rowsell, Alison
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Lund, Susi
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Turnbull, Joanne
cd1f8462-d698-4a90-af82-46c39536694b
Arber, Mick
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Crouch, Robert
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Pocock, Helen
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Deakin, Charles D.
f308bd7c-4c95-4b55-8983-8237cde25967
Richardson, Alison
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18 September 2020
Myall, Michelle
0604ba0f-75c2-4783-9afe-aa54bf81513f
Rowsell, Alison
058f3917-b556-4eef-a393-4c025a3c4ccb
Lund, Susi
239a4d54-13e1-4d69-8e3f-08475c20af47
Turnbull, Joanne
cd1f8462-d698-4a90-af82-46c39536694b
Arber, Mick
17f54325-49f5-47e8-80f8-8fd28cb84ac6
Crouch, Robert
3a3b1f32-e067-43d0-9bc7-85d1229412fe
Pocock, Helen
2380e94b-4916-4498-beac-dba8d2971bf4
Deakin, Charles D.
f308bd7c-4c95-4b55-8983-8237cde25967
Richardson, Alison
3db30680-aa47-43a5-b54d-62d10ece17b7
Myall, Michelle, Rowsell, Alison, Lund, Susi, Turnbull, Joanne, Arber, Mick, Crouch, Robert, Pocock, Helen, Deakin, Charles D. and Richardson, Alison
(2020)
Death and dying in pre-hospital care: what are the experiences and issues for pre-hospital practitioners, families and bystanders? A scoping review.
BMJ Open, 10 (9), , [e036925].
(doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-036925).
Abstract
Objective: To identify the factors that shape and characterise experiences of pre-hospital practitioners (PHPs), families, and bystanders in the context of death and dying outside of the hospital environment where PHPs respond.
Design: A scoping review using Arksey and O’Malley’s five-stage framework. Papers were analysed using thematic analysis
Data sources: MEDLINE; Embase; CINAHL; Scopus; Social Sciences Citation Index (Web of Science), ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I (Proquest), Health Technology Assessment (HTA) database; PsycINFO; Grey Literature Report and PapersFirst were searched from January 2000-May 2019.
Eligibility criteria for selecting studies: Qualitative and mixed method studies reporting the experiences of PHPs, families and bystanders of death and dying in pre-hospital settings as a result of natural causes, trauma, suicide and homicide, >18 years of age, in Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Results: Searches identified 15,352 papers of which 51 met the inclusion criteria. The review found substantial evidence of PHP experiences, except call-handlers, and papers reporting family and bystander experiences were limited. PHP work was varied and complex, whilst confident in clinical work, they felt less equipped to deal with the emotion work, especially with an increasing role in palliative and end-of-life care. Families and bystanders reported generally positive experiences but their support needs were rarely explored.
Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge this is the first review that explores the experiences of PHPs, families and bystanders. An important outcome is identifying current gaps in knowledge where further empirical research is needed. The paucity of evidence suggested by this review on call-handlers, families and bystanders presents opportunities to investigate their experiences in greater depth. Further research to address the current knowledge gaps will be important to inform future policy and practice.
Text
Death and dying in pre-hospital care what are the experiences and issues for pre-hospital practitioners, families and bystanders A scoping review
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 14 August 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 18 September 2020
Published date: 18 September 2020
Additional Information:
Publisher Copyright:
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.
Keywords:
accident & emergency medicine, palliative care, qualitative research
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 443353
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/443353
ISSN: 2044-6055
PURE UUID: c776cef7-2416-476e-aefe-9a1140ecc3a8
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Date deposited: 21 Aug 2020 16:30
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 04:04
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Contributors
Author:
Susi Lund
Author:
Mick Arber
Author:
Helen Pocock
Author:
Charles D. Deakin
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