title: The desired competence of the Swedish ambulance nurse according to the professionals - a Delphi study.
abstract: Nursing is evolving into new fields of health care including ambulance care, where a branch of specialist nursing is growing. Various views exist on the desired competence for the ambulance nurse and valid guidelines are lacking in Sweden. To increase knowledge of the field, professionals were asked to describe what competences an ambulance nurse should possess. The aim of this study was therefore to elucidate the desired professional competence of the specialist ambulance nurse, according to the professionals. A modified Delphi technique was used, where a panel of professional experts expressed their views on the desired competence of the ambulance nurse. This study reports, at a high level of agreement among the panel experts, that the desired competence of the specialist ambulance nurse consist of forty-four separate competences creating ten areas of competences: execute leadership, generic abilities, interpersonal communication, institutional collaboration, pedagogic skills, possession of relevant knowledge, professional judgement, professional skills, research activities, and technical skills. The high level of agreement among the professionals as well as the large number of competences reflects the high demands placed on the ambulance nurse by the professionals themselves.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Health Sciences Centre, 221 00 Lund, Sweden. Electronic address: jonas.wihlborg@med.lu.se.
authors.forename: Jonas
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wihlborg
authors.affiliation: Centre for Teaching and Learning, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, 221 00 Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Gudrun
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Edgren
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Health Sciences Centre, 221 00 Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Health Sciences Centre, 221 00 Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Bengt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sivberg
mesh_terms: D000552:Ambulances; D003697:Delphi Technique; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000592:standards*; D011361:Professional Competence / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden
keywords: Ambulance care; Ambulance nurse; Delphi technique; Nursing; Prehospital emergency care; Professional competence