Bringing the Hospital to the Adult Patient: A Qualitative Study of Patients' and Relatives' Experiences of Mobile Emergency Care at Home.
Åsa Falchenberg, Ulf Andersson, Anders Sterner and 2 others
PMID 42324852WHAT IT FOUND
Patients and relatives described home emergency teams as calming, respectful and reassuring, especially when assessments were explained step by step.
Some remained uncertain about follow-up after the team left.
Key findings
01Patients and relatives often hesitated before calling for help because they feared exaggerating or burdening emergency services.
02The team's calm presence and clear explanations helped participants feel reassured and trust decisions about staying home or going to hospital.
03Uncertainty about follow-up after the team left was a concern for some participants.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study reports perceptions and experiences, so it cannot show whether mobile emergency care improves clinical outcomes, reduces admissions, or is safer than hospital care. Convenience sampling and many declines for poor health mean the findings may not represent the most frail or dissatisfied patients. Patients and relatives were not always interviewed separately, and relatives' accounts were treated as part of a shared experience, so individual or conflicting perspectives may be hidden. No mobile emergency team professionals were interviewed, so staff perspectives are absent. The study was done in two Swedish organisations, so results may not transfer to other emergency systems. No formal member checking was done, so participants did not validate the final themes.
Declared interests
The authors report no funding to disclose and no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these experiences as proof that mobile emergency teams improve clinical outcomes or reduce admissions. The study reports patients' and relatives' perceptions, not measured effects.