Compassion, stigma, and professionalism among emergency personnel responding to the opioid crisis: An exploratory study in New Hampshire, USA.
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Authors
Saunders, Elizabeth C
Moore, Sarah K
Walsh, Olivia
Meier, Andrea
Auty, Samantha
Bessen, Sarah Y
Marsch, Lisa A
Publication Date
2022-02Journal Title
J Am Coll Emerg Physicians Open
ISSN
2688-1152
Publisher
Wiley
Volume
3
Issue
1
Language
eng
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Metcalf, S. A., Saunders, E. C., Moore, S. K., Walsh, O., Meier, A., Auty, S., Bessen, S. Y., & et al. (2022). Compassion, stigma, and professionalism among emergency personnel responding to the opioid crisis: An exploratory study in New Hampshire, USA.. J Am Coll Emerg Physicians Open, 3 (1) https://doi.org/10.1002/emp2.12641
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Drug overdoses are the leading cause of death in the United States for those under 50 years of age, and New Hampshire has been disproportionately affected, resulting in increased encounters with the emergency response system. The ensuing impact on emergency personnel has received little attention. The present study aimed to explore the experiences and perspectives of emergency personnel responding to the opioid crisis in NH, with a focus on their views toward people who use opioids. METHODS: Thirty-six emergency personnel (emergency department clinicians, n = 18; emergency medical service providers, n = 6; firefighters, n = 6; and police officers, n = 6) in 6 New Hampshire counties were interviewed about their experiences responding to overdoses and their perspectives on individuals who use opioids. Directed content analysis was used to identify themes in the transcribed, semistructured interviews. The results were reviewed for consensus. RESULTS: Several categories of themes were identified among emergency personnel's accounts of their overdose response experiences and perspectives, including varied degrees of compassion and stigma toward people who use opioids; associations between compassion or stigma and policy- and practice-related themes, such as prehospital emergency care and the role of emergency departments (EDs); and primarily among personnel expressing compassion, a sense of professional responsibility that outweighed personal biases. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the magnitude of the ongoing opioid crisis, some emergency personnel in New Hampshire have sustained or increased their compassion for people who use opioids. Others' perspectives remain or have become increasingly stigmatizing. The associations of compassion and stigma with various policy- and practice-related themes warrant further investigation.
Keywords
Drug Overdose, Qualitative Research, Emergency Departments, Compassion, Social Stigma, Emergency Responders, Opioid Crisis
Sponsorship
NIDA NIH HHS (UG1 DA040309, P30 DA029926)
Identifiers
PMC8758975, 35059691
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/emp2.12641
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/334299
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Licence URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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