Table 1.

Results divided into subcategories

High emotional impact healthcare services	Paedriatic trauma Suicide
Time when the reported event occurred	Half of the interviewed nurses report some highly intense emotional experience soon after the beginning of their working experience at the emergency ambulance service 118. The majority of them had such an experience in the first two years of their career
Main experienced emotions	Helplessness Fear Disperation
Repercussions on nurses’ personal life	Short term Long term
Employed coping strategies	Talking to a colleague about a clinical intervention perceived as traumatic, emotional detachment almost to the point of cynicism, physical activity, playing down, removal, denial, limiting any contact with the victim and the victim’s relatives, crying, wanting to be close to a loved one
Personal opinions regarding the presence of peer-supporters compared to the presence of a phycologist at the ambulance station 118	The majority of nurses is in favour of peer-supporters. The motivation is based on the fact that they recognise the peer-support as someone that can understand what nurses really mean when relating a traumatic event, being one of their colleagues
Nurses’ Perceived obstacles	A minority of nurses does not exclude the effectiveness and the value of a peer-supporter, however the perceived obstacles are: fear of being judged, possible distortion of reality, lack of respect for one’s privacy, fear of overwhelming colleagues and fear of having someone new, such as the peer supporter, in their team