Grey areas: New Zealand ambulance personnel's experiences of challenging resuscitation decision-making.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION:When faced with a patient in cardiac arrest, ambulance personnel must rapidly make complex decisions with limited information. Much of the research examining decisions to commence, continue, withhold or terminate resuscitation has used retrospective audits of registry data and clinical documentation. This study offers a provider-perspective which characterises uncertainty and highlights clinical, cognitive, emotional and physical demands associated with decision-making in the cardiac arrest context. METHOD:Semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of sixteen demographically diverse ambulance personnel, currently employed in a variety of emergency ambulance response roles across New Zealand. RESULTS:All participants readily identified clinical, cognitive, emotional and ethical challenges associated with resuscitation decision-making. Four main themes were identified: grey areas; exceptional cases; scene challenges; and personal responses. A lack of information or a mix of favourable and unfavourable prognostic factors created decision-making uncertainty or "grey areas". Exceptional cases such as first-encounters also increased uncertainty and presented emotional, ethical and clinical challenges. Cardiac arrest scenes were often challenging, and participants described managing bystander expectations and responses and logistical limitations including adverse environmental conditions, fatigue and task-overload, and crew resource management. CONCLUSION:This unique research presents a provider-perspective on the challenges faced by ambulance personnel deciding to commence, continue, withhold or terminate resuscitation efforts. Knowledge of personal values and strategies for managing personal responses appear to be central to certainty and coping. Simulated training should move beyond resuscitation task performance, to incorporate challenging elements and encourage ambulance personnel to explore their personal values, stressors and coping strategies.