Premium
Barriers to accessing ambulance services in rural Victoria for acute asthma: Patients’ and medical professionals’ perspectives
Author(s) -
Morgans Amee,
Archer Frank,
Walker Tony,
Thuma Evelyn
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
australian journal of rural health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.48
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1440-1584
pISSN - 1038-5282
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1854.2005.00665.x
Subject(s) - medicine , asthma , audit , focus group , medical emergency , emergency care practitioner , ambulance service , medical record , emergency medical services , health professionals , health care , family medicine , rural health , rural area , emergency medicine , nursing , continuing professional development , professional development , business , management , pathology , marketing , economics , medical education , radiology , economic growth
Objective: To study the attitudes and perceptions of rural asthma patients and medical health professionals towards accessing ambulance services for acute asthma.Design: Health professional and patient based focus groups, audit of ambulance patient care records and self administered survey.Setting: Asthma patients and medical professionals from rural south‐western Victoria.Results: The audit of patient care records included 69 asthma case records, and identified short response times (mean, 7 min; SD, 5 min), and documented patient improvement in clinical status in response to ambulance treatment. The focus group analysis identified patient perceptions which act as barriers to accessing ambulance services in acute asthma. These included the perception of response time delays, ‘000’ call centre delays and misunderstanding of the role of paramedics, and when it is appropriate to call an ambulance for acute asthma. These perceptions were expressed by both patients and medical professionals, and both groups had poor knowledge of how and when to access ambulance services for acute asthma.Conclusions: The misperceptions expressed are of particular concern in a rural population where distance can cause prolonged response times to treatment, and patients who are acutely ill need to contact emergency services promptly and appropriately to improve patient health outcomes.