Ambulance Clinicians' Experiences of Attending OHCA in Children

This research will explore ambulance clinicians' experiences of attending out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) incidents involving children.

OHCA occurs when the heart stops beating. This is a time critical emergency that requires immediate treatment to maximise the changes of survival. OHCA affecting children is rare, but when it happens it is vital that paramedics and other ambulance clinicians can respond and deliver high quality care.

Because OHCA in children is rare, ambulance clinicians attend these incidents infrequently. Some clinicians may only ever attend this type of incident once in their career. These incidents are technically challenging for ambulance clinicians, and highly stressful. Evidence from other setting suggests that clinicians may be ill-prepared to manage these events.

This research aims to understand how OHCA incidents involving children are currently managed, and to explore the views and experiences of ambulance clinicians with respect to attending OHCA incidents involving children.

By learning from what is currently being done, and from clinicians' experiences, the research team aims to develop recommendations for how the response to these patients, and the support provided to ambulance clinicians, could be improved.

The research team will review the records of patients under the age of 18 who have been treated for OHCA by one ambulance service over a four-year period. Data will be collected from these records to allow the care delivered to be compared to international guidelines, and to explore what factors might influence the delivery of this care.

The research will also involve a survey of ambulance clinicians working across the UK to understand their experiences, and how prepared they feel to attend these incidents. Finally, the research team will undertake interviews with clinicians who have been involved in the management of a child with OHCA and focus group discussions with specialist clinicians to allow us to learn from their experiences.