Ambulance personnel's management of pain for patients with hip fractures; based on ambulance personnel's gender and years of experience.

UNLABELLED

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) the goal of health care is for the entire general population to have good health and receive care on equal terms. Little is known about gender differences in the management of patients in the ambulance service. There is also a lack of studies investigating how the characteristics of health care personnel, such as gender and work experience, impact on patient care Therefore, the aim of this study was to describe ambulance personnel's assessments and the pain relief they provide for patients with hip fractures, based on the ambulance personnel's gender and years of experience.

METHOD

A retrospective study of patients (>65 years) with hip fracture who, during 2011, were transported by ambulance to hospital.

RESULT

Seven hundred and twenty two patients were included. Most patients reported experiencing pain and 50% received pain medication. Ambulance personnel with working experience of <10 years administered more pain medication compared to those with experience of >10 years. There was a tendency for male ambulance personnel to give pain medication more often compared to female personnel, but this tendency showed no significance.

CONCLUSION

The main finding of our study is that personnel with working experience of less than 10 years administer more pain relief, even though only half of the patients received pain medication during ambulance transportation.