Accident and emergency nursing
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Experiences of adding nurses to increase medical competence at an emergency medical dispatch centre.
Prehospital care begins when the call is placed to the emergency medical dispatch (EMD) centre and ends when the patient is cared for at the emergency department. The highly technical and specialized character demands advanced medical competence. Communication problems, serious and unpredictable situations can often occur during the emergency calls. A two-year intervention study involved the addition of registered nurses to an EMD-centre team to increase medical competence. ⋯ Combining the registered nurses' and emergency-operators' knowledge and experience at an EMD-centre can perhaps improve the prehospital care for those requiring emergency medical care.