title: Swedish ambulance managers' descriptions of crisis support for ambulance staff after potentially traumatic events.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ambulance staff face complex and sometimes stressful or potentially traumatic situations, not only in disasters but also in their routine daily work. The aim of this study was to survey ambulance managers' descriptions of crisis support interventions for ambulance staff after potential traumatic events (PTEs).
  
  
  METHODS
  Semistructured interviews with a qualitative descriptive design were conducted with six ambulance managers in a health care region in central Sweden. The data was analyzed using content analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five categories were found in the result: (1) description of a PTE; (2) description and performance of crisis support interventions; (3) impact of working in potentially traumatic situations; (4) the ambulance managers' role in crisis support interventions; and (5) the ambulance managers' suggestions for improvement. Ambulance managers described crisis support interventions after a PTE as a single, mandatory group meeting with a structure reminiscent of debriefing. The ambulance managers also expressed doubts about the present structures for crisis support and mentioned an alternative approach which is more in line with present evidence-based recommendations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results indicated a need for increased understanding of the importance of the managers' attitudes for ambulance staff; a need for further implementation of evidence-based recommendations for crisis support interventions was also highlighted.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hugelius
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berg
authors.forename: Elin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Westerberg
authors.forename: Mervyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gifford
authors.forename: Annofie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Adolfsson
mesh_terms: D000552:Ambulances; D003419:Crisis Intervention / Q000379:methods*; D004634:Emergency Medical Technicians / Q000523:psychology*; D055317:Evidence-Based Practice; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D013548:Sweden