End-of-life care decision support tool for ambulance services: Simulated testing
The provision of end-of-life care can be challenging for ambulance clinicians, who may enter situations with no prior knowledge of a patient’s medical history or understanding of a patient’s or family member’s wishes on the best management.
Ambulance clinicians must assimilate knowledge quickly and may have little information on which to base their decisions before they can decide on the appropriate management. In addition they may have little training or previous experience on which to base their decisions, and the situation may be emotionally charged.
In order to support clinical decision-making in such situations, the West Midlands End-of-life Care Decision Support Tool (DST) for Ambulance Clinicians was developed by researchers at Warwick Medical School and West Midlands Ambulance Service and funded by NHS West Midlands. The tool supports clinical decision-making in resuscitation and transportation, so that end-of-life care decisions are made in the best interests of the patients.
The research team was:
Dr Joanne Fisher (Principal Investigator)
