Medicine at the Margins: EMS Workers in Urban America

Medicine at the Margins is a book that delves into the world of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) workers in American cities, providing a unique view of social problems and conflicts over urban space from the cab of an ambulance. It highlights the forms of marginality that capture the reality of urban EMS work and argues that the pre-hospital health care system needs to embrace its role in the social safety net.

Format: Hardback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 08 November 2022
Publisher: Fordham University Press

While we imagine ambulances as a site for critical care, the reality is far more complicated. Social problems, like homelessness, substance abuse, and the health consequences of poverty, are encountered every day by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) workers. Written from the lens of a sociologist who speaks with the fluency of a former Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Medicine at the Margins delves deeply into the world of EMTs and paramedics in American cities, an understudied element of our health care system. Like the public hospital, the EMS system is a key but misunderstood part of our system of last resort.

Medicine at the Margins presents a unique prism through which urban social problems, the health care system, and the struggling social safety net refract and intersect in largely unseen ways. Author Christopher Prener examines the forms of marginality that capture the reality of urban EMS work and showcases the unique view EMS providers have of American urban life. The rise of neighborhood stigma and the consequences it holds for patients who are assumed by providers to be malingering is critical for understanding not just the phenomenon of non- or sub-acute patient calls but also why they matter for all patients. This sense of marginality is a defining feature of the experience of EMS work and is a statement about the patient population whom urban EMS providers care for daily. Prener argues that the pre-hospital health care system needs to embrace its role in the social safety net and how EMSs future is in community practice of paramedicine, a port of a broader mandate of pre-hospital health care. By leaning into this work, EMS providers are unique.

EMS workers are the frontline of our health care system, encountering social problems like homelessness, substance abuse, and poverty daily. Medicine at the Margins, written from the perspective of a sociologist and former EMT, offers a unique insight into the world of EMTs and paramedics in American cities. The book explores the forms of marginality that characterize urban EMS work and highlights the unique perspective of EMS providers on American urban life. It sheds light on the rise of neighborhood stigma and its impact on patients who are assumed to be malingering, emphasizing the importance of understanding this phenomenon for all patients.

Prener argues that the pre-hospital health care system should embrace its role in the social safety net and shift towards community practice of paramedicine. By doing so, EMS providers can better address the needs of their patient population and contribute to a broader mandate of pre-hospital health care. The book offers valuable insights into the challenges and rewards of EMS work and highlights the importance of recognizing and addressing the social determinants of health.

In conclusion, Medicine at the Margins provides a unique perspective on social problems and conflicts over urban space from the cab of an ambulance. By examining the forms of marginality that characterize urban EMS work and showcasing the unique view of EMS providers on American urban life, the book sheds light on the importance of recognizing and addressing the social determinants of health. It calls for a broader mandate of pre-hospital health care and emphasizes the need for EMS providers to embrace their role in the social safety net.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781531501075