'Driving the Patients': Taxi Drivers' Experiences With Patient Transportation

The study's aim was to gain more knowledge about patient transportation from the perspective of taxi drivers. This knowledge is important to improve the quality of patient transitions. Nurses are responsible for ensuring the needs of patients during transport, admission, discharge and recovery.

The study utilized a qualitative explorative research design. Twenty-one taxi drivers were recruited via snowball sampling. Three focus group interviews and one individual interview were conducted. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.

The Norwegian Centre for Research Data approved the study. Participants were informed that participation was voluntary and that they could withdraw at any time; all participants provided written consent before participating.

The analysis revealed that patient transport can be complex and unpredictable. Five themes were identified: 'the patients are at risk', 'taking responsibility for the passengers', 'communication is crucial', 'collaboration with the healthcare services is inconsistent' and 'economics governs the services'. The taxi drivers felt responsible for getting patients to their appointments on time and transporting them to the correct destination, as well as ensuring that the transport is comfortable, that the patients receive the necessary medication and that they do not have to wait long for the taxi to arrive. Achieving this requires good collaboration with the personnel responsible for ordering the transport and homecare services.

Patient transport is crucial to ensure that patients receive the correct healthcare services. Many taxi drivers care about the patients they transport and take responsibility for their needs. It is important to include taxi drivers' experiences when planning the organization of patient transitions.