Date
5-20-2026
Department
School of Health Sciences
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Health Sciences (PhD)
Chair
Orchid George
Keywords
Mentorship, just culture, emergency medical services
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences
Recommended Citation
Contreras, Katherine Elizabeth, "The Relationship Between Mentorship and Career Longevity for New Clinicians in Emergency Medical Services" (2026). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 8425.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/8425
Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative descriptive phenomenological study was to understand how mentorship assisted a new Emergency Medical Services (EMS) clinician in navigating the challenges of the first year at an EMS agency in Central Texas. Guiding the study was Lev Vygotsky’s theory of social constructivism, which focuses on knowledge gained through human activities, social interactions, and behavior modeling. Twelve study participants completed one-on-one interviews, two participants completed a single focus group interview, and the researcher conducted naturalistic observations, during which the participants shared personal, firsthand experiences that answered the study’s central research question: How does mentorship help new EMS clinicians navigate the challenges of the first year at an EMS agency in Central Texas? The collected data were analyzed using Colaizzi’s thematic analysis, and four themes were identified: the need for mentorship for new EMS clinicians, training gaps experienced by new clinicians, the positive implications of just culture, and the effects of organizational culture on a mentorship program. The participants shared multiple examples of personally experienced benefits of mentorship and provided ways current deficits in EMS education could be better addressed through mentorship on the ambulance. The results of this study suggest a relationship between mentorship and perceived career longevity among new EMS clinicians and help fill the existing literature gap regarding mentorship specific to EMS.
