Doing care work on the fly – exploring the unnoticed socio‐emotional skills of male ambulance staff

Prehospital ambulance work is a healthcare arena hitherto neglected by sociologists of health and illness. This is unfortunate because it is an interesting and dynamic area, and in contrast to most healthcare sectors, it is male dominated. Via ethnographic fieldwork, this article examines the partic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sociology of health & illness 2020-03, Vol.42 (3), p.433-448
Main Author: Kyed, Morten
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ambulance services
ambulance work
Ambulances
care practices
care practising
Communication
Dominance
emergency care
Health care
Health problems
Health services
Illnesses
Males
Masculinity
Medicine
Psychology
Sociologists
socio‐emotional skills
Work
Work skills
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Summary:Prehospital ambulance work is a healthcare arena hitherto neglected by sociologists of health and illness. This is unfortunate because it is an interesting and dynamic area, and in contrast to most healthcare sectors, it is male dominated. Via ethnographic fieldwork, this article examines the particular caring practices and socio‐emotional skills that ambulance staff use in practising prehospital care work. The empirical analysis outlines six recurring prehospital practices: medicine work, machine work, scene management, becalming work, communication work and bodywork. Each practice represents a different element of prehospital care practice and is best understood as a repertoire, as many different assemblages of these care practices can work effectively in prehospital situations. The article concludes that despite institutionalised blue‐collar masculinity, numeric dominance and scarce formal education in ambulance psychology, male ambulance staff are generally proud and reflexive care practitioners.
ISSN:0141-9889
1467-9566
DOI:10.1111/1467-9566.13014