When an emergency ambulance is needed, patients and families support each other.

When patients are not conveyed to hospital, negative emotions can arise.

Joint decision-making between ambulance clinicians and patents/family members fosters a sense of empowerment.

More shared decision-making training is needed for ambulance staff to help support patients.

A large proportion of emergency calls to the ambulance service are non-life-threatening, resulting in some patients being discharged by paramedics at the scene. Negative patient and family member experiences during a clinical encounter may have lasting effects. We aimed to explore the experiences of patients and family members who were discharged on scene after ambulance attendance.

A rapid evidence review was conducted. MEDLINE and CINAHL Complete databases were searched simultaneously for all articles published before the 15th March 2024. Study screening and data extraction was performed. The included studies were critically appraised, and a thematic synthesis was conducted.

Five papers representing patients and family members from Australia, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark were included. Patients and family members experienced: fear and uncertainty at transitional points; reassurance from sharing responsibility; relief from a normal physical assessment; confidence from informative worsening advice; being listened to and validated; reliance on each other; and empowerment through being involved in decision making.

Patients and family members have varied experiences when being discharged at scene. The limited number of available studies highlights the need for further research to be conducted internationally.

Paramedic

Ambulance

Discharge

Experience

Patient

Family member

© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.