Emotion work in emergency pre-hospital care - version 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An ethnographic study of emotion work in emergency pre-hospital care
IRAS ID
159996
Contact name
Angela Williams
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Swansea University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 21 days
Research summary
This study aims to explore the emotional demands of emergency pre-hospital care on practitioners.
Emergency pre-hospital practice involves the assessment, management, treatment and transport of patients with a variety of emergency physical, social and mental health problems. Emergency pre-hospital practitioners are consequently exposed to a potential myriad of human emotions in themselves and others. Responding to and dealing with others’ emotions and their own both in the delivery of care and after the event, create significant demands for emotion work.
This study will include all frontline emergency ambulance staff in one ambulance station for a period of 18 months. Staff will be observed in the delivery of care and in their interactions between calls to gain an insight into how emotion is managed in this care setting. Individual, semi- structured, follow up interviews will be undertaken with emergency practitioners to expand on the observational data. Interviews will also be undertaken with organisational management representatives within the ambulance service to gather their perspectives. Finally relevant policy documents will be analysed.
This research will contribute to the appreciation and understanding of the emotional demands of pre-hospital care and how these practitioners deal with these demands.REC name
East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 1
REC reference
14/ES/1090
Date of REC Opinion
17 Oct 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion