When George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis, and protestors hit the streets worldwide, I felt catapulted back to the Civil Rights Movement and I was paralysed—heartbroken by the racism and the violence; overwhelmed by the fear and regret that my children (who are half black and half Asian) are growing up in a world where bafflingly, racism is still an issue; and debilitated by the hopeless and helpless feeling that this is something I can't fix.
In the June issue of the JPP's international quarterly journal, International Paramedic Practice, Wheeler and Dippenaar (2020) discuss both the physiological and psychological components of paramedic wellbeing. In it, they point out that stress has both positive and negative psychological effects, differentiating between a ‘stress is debilitating’ and a ‘stress-is-enhancing’ mindset. Whether stress is perceived as positive or negative, they explain, is connected with a person's ability to do something about the external stressor. This explains why my inability to change what is happening in the world I brought my own mixed-race children into made me feel negative and debilitated, rather than empowered to make a difference like so many of those around me. However, I realise that speaking out and teaching my children are small ways that I can make a difference, and while I am still upset (to put it lightly), I am beginning to feel less debilitated and more enhanced by the stress I feel.
In this month's issue of JPP, a page in our Art & History section is dedicated to the Black Lives Matter movement (p. 290), with a feature by East of England Ambulance Service paramedic, Tanoh Asamoah-Danso, on the realities of his journey as a black paramedic in England, as well as a poem about the bigger picture of oppression by Alpesh Mistry, a South Asian paramedic from the West Midlands Ambulance Service.
Implicit bias is interwoven throughout our societies and becoming aware of this is essential to tackling it. Health professionals may hold inaccurate medical beliefs about race, such as that a black person's skin is thicker than a white person's or that their blood coagulates more quickly (Hoffman et al, 2016). Medical providers under a heavy cognitive load may also make use of mental shortcuts to make rapid decisions, leading to a high risk of relying on stereotypes (Burgess, 2010).
One action that every person can take is completion of an implicit bias test (https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/selectatest.html) to ensure awareness of biases that may impact upon care, whether regarding race, sexuality, age, etc.
Now is, without a doubt, a stressful time for everyone on multiple fronts—but will you be ‘debilitated’ or ‘enhanced’ by your stress?