Published In
International Journal for Quality in Health Care
Document Type
Post-Print
Publication Date
11-30-2022
Subjects
Emergency Medical Service (EMS) workers, Health care delivery -- Case Studies
Abstract
Background: The efficacy of pre-hospital emergency services is heavily dependent on the effective communication of care providers. This effective communication occurs between providers as part of a team, but also among providers interacting with family members and patients. The COVID-19 pandemic introduced a number of communication challenges to emergency care, which are primarily linked to the increased use of PPE.
Methods: We sought to analyze the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on Emergency Medical Service (EMS) workers and pre-hospital care delivery. We conducted focus groups and one-on-one interviews with fire-EMS first responders between Sept 2021 and 2022. Interviews included questions about job related stress, EMS skills, work experiences and changes during Covid-19. Interviews were recorded, independently dual coded, and analyzed for themes.
Results: 223 first responders participated in 40 focus groups and 40 lead paramedics participated in individual interviews. We found that additional use of personal protective-equipment (PPE) was reported to have significantly impaired efficiency and perceptions of quality of care—among EMS team members and also between EMS workers and patients. EMS personnel also experienced on scene hostility on arrival (from both families and other agencies). Use of extensive PPE muffles voices, obscures facial expressions, and can cause team members to have difficulty recognizing and communicating with one another and can be a barrier to showing empathy and connecting with patients. Creative solutions such as putting a hand on someone’s shoulder, wearing name tags on suits, and explaining rationale for perceived delays were mentioned as methods to transcend these barriers. The appearance of providers in heavy PPE can be unsettling and create barriers to human connection, particularly for pediatric patients.
Conclusion: Human connection is an important element of health care delivery and healing. These findings shed light on new skills that are needed to initiate and maintain human connection in these times of PPE use, especially full body PPE. Awareness of the communication and empathy barriers posed by PPE is the first step to improving provider-patient interactions in pre-hospital EMS. Additionally, ‘communication-friendly’ adaptations of PPE equipment may be an important area for future research and development in manufacturing and the healthcare industry.
Rights
Copyright © 2022 Oxford University Press
Locate the Document
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/mzac095
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/38976
Citation Details
Aengst, Jennifer; Walker-Stevenson, Grace A.; Harrod, Tabria; Ivankovic, Jonathan; Neilson, Jacob; and Guise, Jeanne-Marie, "Uncomfortable yet Necessary: The Impact of PPE on Communication in Emergency Medicine" (2022). Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations. 263.
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/38976
Description
This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in International Journal for Quality in Health Care. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in International Journal for Quality in Health Care.