Paramedics On And Off The Streets

In Paramedics On and Off the Streets, Michael K. Corman embarks on an institutional ethnography of the complex, mundane, intricate, and exhilarating work of paramedics in Calgary, Alberta. Corman’s comprehensive research includes more than 200 hours of participant observation ride-alongs with paramedics over a period of eleven months, more than one hundred first hand interviews with paramedics, and thirty-six interviews with other emergency medical personnel including administrators, call-takers and dispatchers, nurses, and doctors. At the heart of this ethnography are questions about the role of paramedics in urban environments, the role of information and communication technologies in contemporary health care governance, and the organization and accountability of pre-hospital medical services. Paramedics On and Off the Streets is the first institutional ethnography to explore the role and increasing importance of paramedics in our healthcare system. It takes readers on a journey into the everyday lives of EMS personnel and provides an in-depth sociological analysis of the work of pre-hospital health care professionals in the twenty-first century.

In Paramedics On and Off the Streets, Michael K. Corman embarks on an institutional ethnography of the complex, mundane, intricate, and exhilarating work of paramedics in Calgary, Alberta. Corman's comprehensive research includes more than 200 hours of participant observation ride-alongs with paramedics over a period of eleven months, more than one hundred first hand interviews with paramedics, and thirty-six interviews with other emergency medical personnel including administrators, call-takers and dispatchers, nurses, and doctors. At the heart of this ethnography are questions about the role of paramedics in urban environments, the role of information and communication technologies in contemporary health care governance, and the organization and accountability of pre-hospital medical services. Paramedics On and Off the Streets is the first institutional ethnography to explore the role and increasing importance of paramedics in our healthcare system. It takes readers on a journey into the everyday lives of EMS personnel and provides an in-depth sociological analysis of the work of pre-hospital health care professionals in the twenty-first century.

"In Paramedics On and Off the Streets, Michael K. Corman embarks on an institutional ethnography of the complex, mundane, intricate, and exhilarating work of paramedics in Calgary, Alberta. Corman's comprehensive research includes more than 200 hours of participant observation ride-alongs with paramedics over a period of eleven months, more than one hundred first hand interviews with paramedics, and thirty-six interviews with other emergency medical personnel including administrators, call-takers and dispatchers, nurses, and doctors. At the heart of this ethnography are questions about the role of paramedics in urban environments, the role of information and communication technologies in contemporary health care governance, and the organization and accountability of pre-hospital medical services. Paramedics On and Off the Streets is the first institutional ethnography to explore the role and increasing importance of paramedics in our healthcare system. It takes readers on a journey into the everyday lives of EMS personnel and provides an in-depth sociological analysis of the work of pre-hospital health care professionals in the twenty-first century."--

This accessible book is designed to help both practising and student paramedics prepare to deal with 25 of the most commonly seen pre-hospital care scenarios, as well as to revise for practical exams.

PSG

Drawing on extensive ethnographic research, this fascinating book highlights the challenges and contradictions faced by neophyte paramedics as they transition from a classroom setting into day-to-day clinical work placements. Shining a spotlight on the subculture of the UK Ambulance Service, as well as the paramedic profession more widely, it examines critically how language, cultural meanings, institutionalised rules, professional identity, and working practices determine key behaviours within paramedic practice, providing readers with insight into the profession not seen by members of the public or portrayed by media representations. The book draws on work of seminal authors and experts in the field to provide a sociological perspective on this not only challenging but also, at times, chaotic professional environment. Supported by fieldnotes as well as interviews with students and paramedics, the book will be essential reading for any student on the path to becoming a paramedic. It will also be valuable reading for those within the service who wish to better understand the hidden cultural and social components that lie beneath the practice itself.

Presents a unique view of social problems and conflicts over urban space from the cab of an ambulance. While we imagine ambulances as a site for critical care, the reality is far more complicated. Social problems, like homelessness, substance abuse, and the health consequences of poverty, are encountered every day by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) workers. Written from the lens of a sociologist who speaks with the fluency of a former Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Medicine at the Margins delves deeply into the world of EMTs and paramedics in American cities, an understudied element of our health care system. Like the public hospital, the EMS system is a key but misunderstood part of our system of last resort. Medicine at the Margins presents a unique prism through which urban social problems, the health care system, and the struggling social safety net refract and intersect in largely unseen ways. Author Christopher Prener examines the forms of marginality that capture the reality of urban EMS work and showcases the unique view EMS providers have of American urban life. The rise of neighborhood stigma and the consequences it holds for patients who are assumed by providers to be malingering is critical for understanding not just the phenomenon of non- or sub-acute patient calls but also why they matter for all patients. This sense of marginality is a defining feature of the experience of EMS work and is a statement about the patient population whom urban EMS providers care for daily. Prener argues that the pre-hospital health care system needs to embrace its role in the social safety net and how EMSs’ future is in community practice of paramedicine, a port of a broader mandate of pre-hospital health care. By leaning into this work, EMS providers are uniquely positioned to deliver on the promise of community medicine. At a time when we are considering how to rely less on policing, the EMS system is already tasked with treating many of the social problems we think would benefit from less involvement with law involvement. Medicine at the Margins underscores why the EMS system is so necessary and the ways in which it can be expanded.

Think back to a time when paramedics didn’t exist. When “drivers” simply brought injured patients to the hospital. When the EMS industry was in its infancy. A time before Nancy Caroline. Dr. Caroline’s work transformed EMS and the entire paramedic field. She created the first national standard curriculum for paramedic training in the United States. She also wrote the first paramedic textbook: Emergency Care in the Streets. The impact that Dr. Caroline had on EMS and health care spanned across the U.S. and abroad. From establishing EMS systems to training paramedics, to providing better nourishment and health care for orphans, her work had a profound impact on humanity. Throughout her life, Dr. Caroline brought a sense of excitement, joy, and humor to her work. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons is proud to continue Dr. Caroline’s legacy. Her sense of excitement and humor live on in this text, which is dedicated to her. The Sixth Edition honors Dr. Caroline’s work with a clear, fun, understandable writing style for which she was known. Welcome back a familiar training companion to your classroom! Say hello to Sidney Sinus, AV Abe, and a cast of memorable characters and amusing anecdotes. Make learning for your students more fun!