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Social Science General

Paramedics On and Off the Streets

Emergency Medical Services in the Age of Technological Governance

by (author) Michael K. Corman

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Aug 2017
Category
General, Hospital Administration & Care, Emergency Medicine
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781442629868
    Publish Date
    Aug 2017
    List Price
    $84.00
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781442629875
    Publish Date
    Aug 2017
    List Price
    $40.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442629899
    Publish Date
    Sep 2017
    List Price
    $30.95

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Description

In Paramedics On and Off the Streets, Michael K. Corman embarks on an institutional ethnography of the complex, mundane, intricate, and exhilarating work of paramedics in Calgary, Alberta.

 

Corman’s comprehensive research includes more than 200 hours of participant observation ride-alongs with paramedics over a period of eleven months, more than one hundred first hand interviews with paramedics, and thirty-six interviews with other emergency medical personnel including administrators, call-takers and dispatchers, nurses, and doctors. At the heart of this ethnography are questions about the role of paramedics in urban environments, the role of information and communication technologies in contemporary health care governance, and the organization and accountability of pre-hospital medical services. Paramedics On and Off the Streets is the first institutional ethnography to explore the role and increasing importance of paramedics in our healthcare system. It takes readers on a journey into the everyday lives of EMS personnel and provides an in-depth sociological analysis of the work of pre-hospital health care professionals in the twenty-first century.

About the author

Michael K.Corman is a principal advisor in the Department of Health and Wellness for the Government of Prince Edward Island and an adjunct professor in the Department of Sociology & Anthropology and Faculty of Nursing at the University of Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Michael K. Corman's profile page

Editorial Reviews

"This is an important book that thoroughly updates and expands the limited sociological literature on emergency ambulance work."

Work, Employment, and Society, vol 33: 1