Take part in research!
Investigating the confidence, experiences and factors impacting the decision-making of patient facing emergency ambulance staff when attending older adults who have fallen.
Do you provide emergency ambulance care in the UK to older adults who have fallen?
Are you willing to spend less then 30 minutes completing an online survey?
Who is invited?
All NHS/HSC ambulance staff who provide an emergency frontline response in the UK are invited to complete an online survey, to share their experiences and decision-making processes when responding to older adults (people aged 65 years and over) who have fallen. This study will increase the understanding of ambulance service response to fallers, and in particular, the confidence and experiences of ambulance staff who respond to these patients.
What is the purpose of the study?
Around 10% of emergency ambulance calls are to people aged 65 years and over who have fallen, and research has found that confidence is a key factor in decision-making (Simpson et al., 2013). The aim of this study is to understand what influences our decision-making as ambulance clinicians when we attend older adults who have fallen. The objective of this survey is to describe confidence levels in decision-making when attending this population.
Next steps
After the survey you are invited to volunteer to also be interviewed, to further understand the factors and experiences. Those who are interviewed can enter a prize draw for a gift voucher/charity donation, with thanks to the College of Paramedics 2024 Research Grant. There is no payment for taking part in the survey.
Take the survey here.
This research is being undertaken by Imogen Gunson, a Professional Doctorate student at Keele University, HCPC Paramedic, and West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) Research Manager. Imogen is undertaking this study as part of her Professional Doctorate in Health Sciences.