Paramedics organizational culture and their care for relatives of cardiac arrest victims.
During in-depth interviews about treatment decisions made by paramedics in cases of cardiac arrest in Oslo, other aspects of their work were frequently brought up. Twenty-four of 33 paramedics emphasized the importance of taking care of bystanding relatives, and frequently spent up to 45-60 min with them after unsuccessful resuscitations. Twenty-three mentioned that they frequently were not being appreciated as health care professionals by other health care personnel. Other aspects mentioned were the relationship with colleagues, debriefing, exhaustion, burnout and little management support. Emotions were frequently exposed during the interviews, but emotions and the importance of caring for relatives (defined by the paramedics as the most important part of their work), were not recognized by the organization, which appeared to have a male 'I can cope with everything' culture. This might partly be due to a lack of appreciation by others and partly a way of coping with the stress of their job. There appeared to be a need for change towards talking about the positive value of caring, and sharing of stress and built-up tension between the paramedics, their organization and the doctors.
Steen
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Work Research Institute, Oslo, Norway.
Naess
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AC
Steen
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D000488:Allied Health Personnel / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology*; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000209:etiology; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005190:Family; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009664:Norway; D015279:Organizational Culture; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology