Ambulance personnel's experience of pain management for patients with a suspected hip fracture: A qualitative study

• Twenty-two clinicians described their experience of caring for patients with a hip fracture.
• Ambulance personnel need broad knowledge when caring for patients with a hip fracture.
• Ambulance personnel use clinical knowledge when treating the patients' pain.
• Ambulance personnel use a variety of interventions for relieving pain.
• Ambulance personnel empower the patient to participate in their own care.

Pain management is described to be insufficient for patients suffering from a hip fracture, and the management for this vulnerable group of patients may be challenging due to their medical history (multiple comorbidities) and polypharmacy. Previous research has mainly focused on fast tracks aiming to reduce time to surgery. But the research on how pain management is handled for these patients in the prehospital context has been sparse. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe the ambulance personnel's experience of managing the pain of patients with a suspected hip fracture. A descriptive and qualitative design with Critical Incident Technique was used for collecting data. Moreover, a qualitative content analysis was used for analysing the collected data. Twenty-two participants communicated their experiences and 51 incidents were analysed. The main finding in the study was that the ambulance personnel, by using their clinical knowledge and by empowering the patients to participate in their own care, managed to individualize the pain relief for patients with a suspected hip fracture through a variety of interventions.