Keeping a ‘stiff upper lip’ in paramedic practice: coping with emotion work

Very little has been written about the emotional and psychological demands of being a paramedic, and there is even less about student paramedics' experiences of these aspects of professional practice.

Overall, this qualitative study aimed to explore student paramedics’ understanding and experiences of what is referred to as ‘emotion work’ within clinical practice, and to identify strategies used for managing emotional demands when working with patients.

As little is known about these phenomena it was entirely appropriate to adopt an exploratory, inductive approach to this study. Students from the second year of a pre-registration diploma programme in paramedic science were invited to participate. In total, six male and two female students were recruited. The paper indicates that these students had experienced four practice placements at the time of their recruitment, although no further information about the length or type of placements is provided.

Data were collected through semi-structured interviews which lasted between 30–45 minutes. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed.