title: Ambulance nurses' experiences of nursing critically ill and injured children: A difficult aspect of ambulance nursing care.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ambulance nurses work daily in both emergency and non-emergency situations that can be demanding. One emotionally demanding situation for ambulance nurses is to nurse children who are ill.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to describe ambulance nurses' experiences of nursing critically ill or injured children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eight specialist ambulance nurses were interviewed and the interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The analysis resulted in one theme, a difficult aspect of ambulance nursing care, with five categories. The security of both child and parents was considered to be paramount. Ambulance nurses felt relieved when they handed over the responsibility and the child to the receiving unit. The ambulance nurses felt that more training, education and follow-up was desirable in order to increase their security when nursing children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Ambulance nurses are subject to stressful feelings while nursing children. As providing reassurance to the child and its parents is a cornerstone of the treatment, it is important for the ambulance nurses to take the time to build up a trusting relationship in such an encounter. Skill development in the area might lead to increased security and reduce the mental burden resulting from negative stress.
authors.affiliation: Falck Ambulans AB, Hässleholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nordén
authors.affiliation: Jokkmokk Ambulace, Jokkmokk, Sweden.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hult
authors.affiliation: Division of Nursing, Department of Health Care Science, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden. Electronic address: asa.engstrom@ltu.se.
authors.forename: Åsa
authors.initials: Å
authors.lastname: Engström
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000552:Ambulances; D002648:Child; D016638:Critical Illness / Q000451:nursing*; D016529:Emergency Nursing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D024802:Nurse's Role; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013548:Sweden; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000451:nursing*
keywords: Ambulance nurse; Child; Nursing; Paramedic; Pre-hospital care; Qualitative content analysis