Background & Objective
Emergency care services are crucial to the delivery of modern healthcare. This study investigated prehospital staff experiences in delivering emergency care in a Low to Middle Income Country (LMIC) - India. The study was guided by the EMS Agenda 2050 principles for people-centered and technology-enabled health systems. The study was performed with emergency medical staff from the city of Gandhinagar, India, which is designated as a future smart city.
Method
This research used purposive and snowball sampling with 23 participants (ambulance drivers, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, and first-aiders) from government, non-governmental, and private organisations. Online semi-structured interviews explored current prehospital care practices, challenges and opportunities. NVivo software was used for qualitative analysis, with a reflexive thematic analysis approach used to derive themes and present findings.
Results
The thematic analysis identified four primary themes with sub-themes: 1. Job satisfaction and challenges, 2. Attitudes and emotions, 3. Technological factors, 4. Efficiency and caring. Findings highlight opportunities for technological interventions to enhance citizen awareness and training, support relatives during emergencies, provide bystanders with medically safe guidance, and facilitate digitalisation in prehospital care.