Riding Third: Social Work in Ambulance Work

This research explored the possible role of social work alongside emergency ambulance services. An ethnographic study included semistructured interviews and direct observations collected over 300 hours while riding in ambulances in an urban setting. The data suggest that social work could play a role by providing needed psychosocial care during ambulance calls. Emergency personnel were often consumed by the medical crises and further constrained by the perceived narrow parameters of their work roles. Consequently, social work's role, informed by a broader biopsychosocial perspective, is envisioned as responding to the observed gaps in service.