Why read Medicine at the Margins?

Book cover of Medicine at the Margins: EMS Workers in Urban America

Book description

Presents a unique view of social problems and conflicts over urban space from the cab of an ambulance.
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…

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Genres

American history

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Why read it?

1 author picked Medicine at the Margins as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Leo McCann

Author

I loved reading this book, another recent one on ambulances and paramedics. It uses qualitative sociological methods to explore the inner workings of the pre-hospital health system and its workers. Chris Prener, an experienced EMT, took an immersive, ethnographic approach to studying the sociology of ambulance work in Chapman City.

Prener shows how urban EMS is moving away from its roots as an emergency response system for critically ill and injured patients and becoming more of a community care system, mostly used by vulnerable and neglected populations. Perhaps the most interesting element of the book is its portrayal of the…

From Leo's list on paramedics, ambulances and emergency work.