Patient assessment in emergency medical services: complexity and uncertainty in street-level patient processing.

摘要: Though still a relatively nascent public function, emergency medical services (EMS) agencies have come to constitute core local government service. The potentially life-saving interventional and palliative treatments provided by EMS personnel are inarguably vital for positive short- long-term patient outcomes, yet our understanding of the behavior these individuals during service interactions is limited. This exploratory research begins narrow this gap in street-level bureaucrats organizations analyzing semi-structured interviews paramedics recounting uncertain complex accounts processing. Results indicate that factors such as paramedic communication skills, influential bystanders with key incident information, identity serve shape patients.