References
Emotional labour in paramedic practice: student awareness of professional demands
Abstract
Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to explore student paramedics' awareness of the emotional demands of their future role, particularly regarding the delivery of compassionate care.
Problem:
There is a dominance of nursing literature in the discourse around compassionate care and emotional labour, and a paucity of research in the paramedic literature.
Methods:
A survey was issued to a small convenience sample of paramedic students. Excel was used to organise data collected, which was then presented graphically as tables and charts.
Results:
Key findings were drawn out and it was found that there were some correlations between the literature reviewed and results generated.
Conclusion:
Student paramedics had identified factors affecting their emotions in placement very early on in their studies. There was evidence of students covering up their emotions whilst in placement. The research reinforced the need for further larger scale and longitudinal studies.
Health Education England (HEE) define quality care as ‘clinically effective, personal and safe, with patients treated with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect’ (HEE, 2016). A renewed National Health Service (NHS) focus on compassion in patient care followed the high profile shortcomings in care exposed by relatives of patients and investigated by the Francis Report into Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust (Bailey 2012, Francis 2013).
Whilst nursing dominated the consequent discourse around compassionate care with a set of values collectively called the 6 Cs (care, compassion, competence, communication, courage and commitment) (Cummings and Bennett, 2012), there have since been moves to embed the 6 Cs of nursing into paramedic practice (Nevins et al, 2016).
These are some of the factors which prompted an investigation into student paramedics' understanding of compassionate patient care and of the emotional labour involved in care giving. Paramedics are expected to respond quickly in unpredictable situations whilst maintaining personal resilience and being available to others in times of need. Like other first responders, they have little advance briefing of the nature of the emergency call and little time to prepare mentally before arrival.
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