Managing Emotions in Swedish Medical Emergency Calls

• This study is a conversation analytic and ethnographic examination of recurrent emotion management practices of interaction in Swedish medical emergency calls. The study expands the analytical focus in past research on emergency calls between emergency call operators and callers to pre-hospital emergency care interaction on the phone between nurses, physicians and callers. The investigation is based on ethnographic fieldwork in an emergency control centre in a Swedish metropolitan area. The data used for the study consists of audio recordings of medical emergency calls and ethnographic fieldnotes, observations and interviews in the emergency control centre. The analysis reveals four fundamental types of emotion management practices that emergency call-takers use to help people in crisis: (1) call-takers keep themselves calm when managing callers’ social displays of emotions; (2) promising ambulance assistance or other types of assistance; (3) providing problem solving presentations including emergency response measures to concerns of callers, and (4) emphasising the positive to create and maintain hope for callers. The findings generated from this study will be useful in emergency call-taker training in carrying out emotion management procedures in medical emergency calls and add to the larger research programmes on on-telephone interaction between healthcare professionals and citizen callers.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Omvårdnad (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Nursing (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Conversation Analysis

Emotion management

Ethnography

Medical emergency calls

Nurse

Physician

Swedish

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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