A Study Comparing Care Between Nurses and Doctors in the French Prehospital Setting: The Case of Hypoglycemia

IntroductionThe objective of this study was to compare the quality of care between French nurses and physicians in the prehospital management of hypoglycemic patients.MethodsResponse times, concordance with medical protocols/recommendations, quality of medical records, and percentage of hospitalized patients were evaluated.ResultsA total of 33 patients were treated for hypoglycemia by the nurse group and 41 by the physician group. The groups were similar in terms of response rates (mean time of 00:08 ± 00:06 minutes for nurses and 00:10 ± 00:09 minutes for doctors). For 51 patients not requiring hospitalization, the proportion was similar in each group (47.1% and 52.9% for nurses and doctors, respectively). The nurse group showed significantly higher mean scores for concordance with recommendations (P < .001) and quality of medical records (P = .005).DiscussionIn the management of hypoglycemic patients, the quality of care of an emergency ambulance team composed of nurses was comparable to that of doctors.