To explore flight nurses' experiences with interhospital transportation of critically ill patients in fixed-wing aircraft.
The study had a qualitative explorative and descriptive design.
Nine flight nurses working at five different air bases across Norway were interviewed. Systematic text condensation was used to analyse the data. The study was reported according to the COREQ checklist.
The data analysis resulted in three categories: Flight nurses being one step ahead when preparation for transporting patients in out-of-hospital environments, Flight nurses' strategies for effective and safe patient transport within the aircraft environment, and Flight nurses' need for a structured and organised handover of patients.
The flight nurses emphasised the need for extensive preparation prior to aeromedical transport to enhance patients' safety. The aircraft environment was a challenge that required them to be creative with the limited resources available and to have a well-functioning interprofessional teamwork.
Knowledge about flight nurses' experiences with interhospital transportations could provide a path to standardisation and inform strategies to enhance interprofessional teamwork. Such knowledge could also contribute to humanising nursing practice during the transportation of critical care patients.
There were no patient or public contributions.
To analyse the qualitative evidence on the role of critical care nurses in rapid response teams.
Qualitative systematic review.
This qualitative systematic review employed Bettany-Saltikov and McSherry’s guidelines and is reported according to the Enhancing Transparency in Reporting the Synthesis of Qualitative Research checklist. Two pairs of blinded researchers screened the articles. The data were synthesised using a thematic analysis approach.
A systematic literature search was conducted using the CINAHL, Embase and MEDLINE databases.
Seven studies were included, and three main roles were identified: (1) balancing between confidence and fear in clinical encounters, (2) facilitating collaboration and (3) managing challenging power dynamics in decision-making.
Critical care nurses possess extensive knowledge and skills in providing critical care to patients experiencing deterioration on general wards. They play a vital role in facilitating collaboration between team members and ward staff. Furthermore, within the rapid response team, critical care nurses assume leadership responsibilities by overseeing the comprehensive coordination of patient care and actively engaging in the decision-making process concerning patient care.
Highlighting the central role of critical care nurses in rapid response teams as well such a team’s benefits in healthcare organisations can promote applications for funding to support further quality assurance of rapid response teams and thus enhance patient safety.
Health care organisations can assure the quality of rapid response team by providing economical resources and training. The education providers should facilitate and standardise curriculum for critical care nursing students to achieve necessary knowledge and skills as members in rapid response teams.
No patient or public contribution.