The Emergency Medical Service personnel's perception of the transportation of young children

• It appears to be particularly challenging to care for sick children in an ambulance, largely because of the symbiotic relationship between children and parents, but also because of practical difficulties related to the actual transport to the hospital. There is a fear that the child may suffer emotional or medical harm by being restrained and separated from the parent. There is no restraint for infants, which is considered a disadvantage by EMS personnel and causes a fear of putting the child's life in danger in case of a traffic accident.

To our knowledge no previous studies have been made which describe the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) personnel's perceptions of transporting children and the care encounter between the child, the parent and the EMS personnel when separating the child and the parent specifically in an ambulance. The aim of this study was to gain an understanding of how EMS personnel perceive ambulance transport of children. The study was carried out in 2012 at one of three ambulance contractors in Stockholm. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted and the content analysis showed that transporting children induces stress and is deemed a precarious task by EMS personnel mainly because children are considered more vulnerable than adults and because of the necessity to separate the child from the parent during transport. There is a conflict between medical- and emotional wellbeing and traffic-safety during the transportation of children and a fear of insufficient ability to care for the child. The EMS personnel's vulnerability is evident in the complicated care situation associated with transporting children in an ambulance. These findings may be considered a first step in assessing if action is needed to improve care and patient safety during ambulance transportation of children.