Calling emergency medical services for terminally ill patients: a qualitative study exploring reasons why informal caregivers make the call

Abstract

Background Although emergency medical service is focused on providing acute prehospital treatment, it is often used by terminally ill patients and their informal caregivers during the last days of patient’s life. Little is known about why they decide to use the emergency medical services. Study objective The aim was to explore informal caregivers’ motivation and decision-making process for calling emergency medical services for their terminally ill loved ones. Methods This study used a qualitative design. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews with 31 relatives of 30 patients who used the emergency medical services. Data were analyzed with NVivo software by utilizing principles of thematic analysis. Results Through the analysis, four distinct themes emerged: (1) limited availability of support from health care services; (2) insufficient planning of care; (3) decline in the health of the patient and (4) being lost and desperate. Conclusion For informal caregivers, emergency medical services represented an important source of support while caring for their terminally ill loved ones due to the limited availability of other sources of help, including a lack of specialist palliative care providers. Additionally, informal caregivers had limited knowledge of the dying process and used emergency medical services for professional advice.