Patients' lived experiences of paramedic interventions in southern England

Objectives: Taking patient experience into consideration is integral to providing high-quality healthcare. Paramedicine is developing rapidly and understanding what patients experience during a paramedic intervention is essential to the development of practice and the profession. The objective of this research is to explore patients' experience of paramedic interventions from their perspective. Methods: Qualitative, lived experience data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed through phenomenological thematic analysis. This allowed participants to express their experience in their own words. Data analysis was carried out alongside collection to assist with identification of data saturation and therefore sample size. Results: Patients' lived experience of paramedic interventions is characterised by four themes: action conquers fear; stop my pain; the journey starts here; and treat me as a person. Participants recognised that paramedic intervention is part of a journey of care. Conclusions: Patients of paramedics desire humane treatment, including pain reduction. They also place a high value on conspicuous action being taken, which reduces anxiety. Clinical competence and speed of response did not appear to feature in the data.