A visual narrative inquiry of paramedic identity in Alberta

Abstract

Paramedics in Alberta have experienced several significant changes to their profession starting with the homogenization of municipal Emergency Medical Services (EMS) departments into a provincial healthcare model in 2009, and then again in 2016 with their inclusion into the Alberta Health Professions Act. This research examines a paramedic’s professional identity within the context of significant change, and, in particular, how EMS has branched into several non-traditional areas of service that see paramedics working ever closer with multidisciplinary healthcare teams. How these changes have had an impact on a paramedic’s self-ascribed identity is explored. Thirteen Alberta Health Services paramedics who work in a range of roles, and locations were each engaged in a semi-structured interview using a photo-elicitation methodology. Thematic saturation was achieved where the final interview did not provide new information about the EMS culture, and the self-ascribed identity of paramedics. Additionally, 105 pictures were evaluated for their content, and a frequency analysis of the artifacts present in the images was performed. The emergent data were analyzed using a multidisciplinary lens, where the concepts of social constructionism, semiotic meaning-making, and descriptive statistics combine to present an ethnography EMS culture in Alberta. Three overarching themes emerged where sub-culture faultlines exist across a range of demographic profiles, that paramedics have a strong sense of what is true in the EMS culture, and lastly that paramedics have a strong value orientation toward being connected to other first responder agencies and the commitment that one must make to be successful in a paramedic career. Keywords: social constructionism, photo-elicitation, organizational studies, semiotics, paramedic culture, paramedic identity