New development: A ‘journey of personal and professional emotions'—emergency ambulance professionals during Covid-19

ABSTRACT

IMPACTThis article explores the consequences of emotional labour on UK NHS ambulance staff and their response to the Covid-19 pandemic. It highlights the challenges faced by ambulance crews while dealing with their emotional labour within the context of organizational settings. Research findings also explain the importance of emergency responders' psychosocial wellbeing. The article has clear relevance as to how frontline staff manage their emotional labour in other emergency service settings, such as the police and fire and rescue services.AlternateManaging emotions are essential aspect of many jobs, and frontline healthcare workers have to manage and control their emotions while caring for critically ill patients and working in an emotionally-charged dynamic environment;this was particularly the case during Covid-19. Ambulance workers are an important group in this respect but they are currently under-researched. Evidence behind this article comes from data collected from an NHS ambulance trust in England. One of the key contributions of this article is to highlight how frontline ambulance professionals manage their emotional labour while working within the stipulations of organizational constraints.