‘We Ought to Be Professionals’: Strategies of Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Emotion Regulation of Emergency Medical Services Professionals in Confrontation With the Death of a Newborn in Simulated Task

Abstract

Managing one’s own and others’ emotions is a necessary part of emergency medical services (EMS) professionals’ work. For that reason, we explored their emotion regulation strategies in a simulated task which focused these skills. Short semistructured interviews were conducted with 48 EMS professionals immediately after completing the task. They described their experience during this task as distressing on a manageable level. Emergent emotion regulation strategies are largely in line with established theoretical frameworks, but their specification is unique and offers new insights. Focusing on the task along with emotional distancing is a crucial combination employed by many EMS professionals. Pre-existing cognitive frames also help with processing of emotional stimuli. Among interpersonal strategies, allowing the relatives of a deceased child to cope with their grief was the most typical reaction. However, attempts to distract them or positively reframe their situation were also present, along with few other strategies.

Necessary steps in developing a valid competency model for emergency medicine professionals

“…Okrem toho, na Slovensku zatiaľ nemáme dostatok výskumných zistení ohľadom kompetencií nevyhnutných pre ZZS. Doteraz sa pozornosť upriamovala na kognitívneho kompetencie (Sedlár, 2018;2020) alebo emočnú reguláciu (Uhrecký et al, 2021), avšak stále chýba systematický výskum, ktorý by identifikoval základné kompetencie a správanie potrebné pre všetkých členov ZZS -pre lekárov, záchranárov aj vodičov. Navyše, potreba upriamenia a systematického skúmania kompetencií profesionálov ZZS vyplýva aj z praktických dôvodov.…”