Background: Nausea is an unpleasant sensation that can cause considerable suffering. One important task for nurses is to relieve suffering and promote wellbeing. In order to relieve suffering paramedics need to be proficient in both medical and caring skills. Nausea amongst patients within the ambulance service is a relatively sparsely researched field that deserves a greater focus.
Aim: To examine the prevalence of nausea amongst patients within the ambulance service and whether the prevalence is affected by factors such as gender, age, time in the ambulance or clinic.
Method: In this study 362 ambulance journals from a Southern region in Sweden were examined retrospectively for documentation of nausea. Demographic data and treatment with antiemetics were also recorded. Statistical analysis of significance levels was performed using the Chi-squared test.
Results: In 17.1% of cases the patient suffered from nausea and in 17.4% there was documentation that the patient was not nauseous, while there was a lack of documentation in 65.5% of the journals. A significantly larger proportion of patients with surgical conditions suffered from nausea than those with medical or orthopaedic conditions (p = 0.0303). The prevalence of nausea was slightly greater for women than men and for patients under age 60 than over age 60 and there was a trend towards more nausea the longer the time in the ambulance was. Only 40.3% of those who reported nausea were given antiemetics
Conclusions: The study showed that both documentation and treatment of nausea were inadequate. There was a connection between which hospital clinic the patients were handed over to and the frequency of nausea, with surgical patients showing the most nausea. Further studies are needed to investigate the lack of documentation of nausea within the ambulance service and factors influencing the prevalence of nausea. This could lead to a predictive instrument to help paramedics detect nausea and better protocols for treating and helping to alleviate nausea.