Telling stories out of school: Experiencing the paramedic's oral traditions and role dissonance
Abstract
Role dissonance is an uncomfortable experience for graduate paramedics, and some blame their university education for the problem. For paramedics the conflict is between identifying as a rescuer and acting largely as a care giver. With vocational pathways into so many uniformed professions closing down in preference for graduate entrants, young new professionals have to negotiate a rapidly changing work culture. Their older colleagues may be challenged and threatened by the new order. For paramedics the problem is compounded by the newness of its place in the tertiary landscape. Since 9/11 young people have been increasingly attracted to rescue roles. Yet in Australia there is increasing need and scope for health workers in remote and aging populations, a preference not immediately attractive to young people hoping for a more heroic future. While the near professions such as nursing have established their discourses around culture, role and pedagogy, paramedics is still trying to chisel its identity. The myths of paramedic glories past tend to add to the confusion of graduates. Due to a lack of empirical studies of non-clinical aspects of paramedicine, a bricolage methodology was used to refresh data from two discrete qualitative research projects conducted in 2011. Both projects had originally been interested in optimal paramedic preceptorship before and after graduation, but neither had explored the implicit theme which revealed the role of rescue experiences in paramedic culture and identity. The bricolage included a new search of literature from near professions and applied new theoretical frameworks to the analysis of the extant data, to demonstrate how storytelling as an element of paramedic collegiality perpetuates rescue stories that are then used to define paramedic work.
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A paradigm shift regarding the role of EMS and paramedics, from traditional critical live-saver and transporting towards more specialised healthcare service providers, accompanies expectations both societal and from within the profession.
“A paradigm shift regarding the role of EMS and paramedics, from traditional critical live-saver and transporting towards more specialised healthcare service providers [10], accompanies a certain level of expectations, both societal [10, 11] and from within the profession itself [11].”
From Paramedics’ perceptions of job demands and resources in Finnish emergency medical services: a qualitative study (2022) · cites this paper as [11]
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Ericsson, C. R., Lindström, V., Rudman, A., & Nordquist, H. (2022) · BMC Health Services Research · doi:10.1186/s12913-022-08856-9 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
“As noted earlier, although the competencies that paramedics had built during their training were deemed adequate and relevant for the actual practical work, which many also expressed provided a sense of safety in their clinical work, paramedics are inherently more specialised in treating emergency conditions and traum…”
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- Authors
- Lazarsfeld-Jensen, A.
- Affiliations
- Charles Sturt University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Lazarsfeld-Jensen, Ann
- Venue
- Nurse Education in Practice
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2014-11
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 734-739
- ISSN
- 1471-5953 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1993189804
- Cited by
- 34
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 1.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Nurse Education in Practice (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Research and Theory › Nursing education and management
- Social Sciences › Human Factors and Ergonomics › Innovative Education and Learning Practices
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Leadership and Management › Healthcare Education and Workforce Issues
- Keywords
- paramedics, oral tradition, storytelling, rescue culture, preceptorship, collegiality, rescue narratives, professional identity formation, paramedic education
- MeSH terms
- Allied Health Personnel, Anecdotes as Topic, Australia, Female, Humans, Male, Social Identification, Rescue Work, Professional Role, Narration, Qualitative Research
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