The ambulance nurse : Aspects on competence and education

Sammanfattning: The knowledge area of ambulance nurses’ competence represents a relatively new research area that cannot be regarded as having been fully explored and described by existing research. There is uncertainty regarding the required competence for ambulance nurses as well as the professional role of the ambulance nurse in ambulance care. It is also not clear if the ambulance nurse educational programmes reflect the demands placed on the professional requirements of ambulance nurses. The Swedish specialist education programmes for ambulance nurses could benefit from an adequateand up-to-date description of ambulance nurses’ professional competence, which can be used to develop all parts of the curriculum of the specialist nursing programme. The overall aim of this thesis was to explore ambulance nurses’ area of knowledge by describing aspects on competence and education in order to provide a comprehensive understanding of ambulance nurses’ competence as a basis for the development of the specialist nursing education curriculum.The results of this thesis are based on four studies. Several methods were used; the Delphi technique, the critical incident technique, the focus group method, facet theory analysis and qualitative content analysis. Data was collected using questionnaires, interviews and observations. The professional competence of ambulance nurses was found to be made up of multiple separate competences and can be described as complex and multidimensional. The professional demands placed on ambulance nurses’ competence are extensive andaspects of importance to their professional practice in the areas of cognitive, functional and personal competence are described. Formal education could be regarded as the foundation of competence development; however, we also found experienced-based learning in workplaces, including feedback and reflection on practice, to be of great importance to competence development. The ambulance nurse curriculum could be developed by including educational content designed in accordance with our findings concerning aspects on competence and through enhanced cooperation between universities and ambulance services. The results of this thesis can be used as a basis for systematic organisational measures for competence development in ambulance services and for curriculum development, as well as for the development of nationally agreed standards for ambulance nurses’ competence.