Emergency Medical Services resource capacity and competency amid COVID-19 in the United States: Preliminary findings from a national survey

Abstract

<jats:p>This study aimed to investigate available resources, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) availability, sanitation practices, institutional policies, and opinions among EMS professionals in the United States amid the COVID-19 pandemic using a self-report survey questionnaire. METHODS An online 42-question multiple choice survey was randomly distributed between April 1, 2020, and April 12, 2020 to various active Emergency Medical Services (EMS) paid personnel in all 50 U.S. states including the District of Columbia (n=165). We approximate a 95% confidence interval (+/- 0.0755). RESULTS An overwhelming number of EMS providers report having limited access to N95 respirators, receiving little or no benefits from COVID-19 related work, and report no institutional policy on social distancing practices despite CDC recommendations. For providers who do have access to N95 respirators, 31% report having to use the same mask for 1 week or longer. Approximately ⅓ of the surveyed participants were unsure of when a COVID-19 patient is infectious. The data suggests regular decontamination of EMS equipment after each patient contact is not a regular practice. DISCUSSION Current practices to educate EMS providers on appropriate response to the novel coronavirus may not be sufficient, and future patients may benefit from a nationally established COVID-19 EMS response protocol. Further investigation on whether current EMS practices are contributing to the spread of infection is warranted. The data reveals concerning deficits in COVID-19 related education and administrative protocols which pose as a serious public health concern that should be urgently addressed.</jats:p>

Differences in Motivating Factors for SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination and Perceptions of Infection Risk among Healthcare and EMS Personnel in South Carolina

“…Perhaps this is the result of the initial shortage of personal protective equipment for EMS personnel 18 . In one nationally representative survey, many EMS personnel reported limited access to personal protection equipment, with nearly one-third reporting having to reuse the same mask for ≥1 week 18 . By the time mask production increased in the United States, it is possible that EMS personnel believed that they had already been exposed to the virus because of the lack of proper protective equipment in the early stages of the pandemic, ultimately decreasing over time their motivation to wear masks.…”

“…Only three of every four EMS personnel reported always or almost always wearing a mask when outside the house, compared with 100% of HCWs. Perhaps this is the result of the initial shortage of personal protective equipment for EMS personnel 18 . In one nationally representative survey, many EMS personnel reported limited access to personal protection equipment, with nearly one-third reporting having to reuse the same mask for ≥1 week 18 .…”

“…18 In one nationally representative survey, many EMS personnel reported limited access to personal protection equipment, with nearly one-third reporting having to reuse the same mask for ≥1 week. 18 By the time mask production increased in the United States, it is possible that EMS personnel believed that they had already been exposed to the virus because of the lack of proper protective equipment in the early stages of the pandemic, ultimately decreasing over time their motivation to wear masks. The decreased use of masks by public safety personnel also was reported in a survey in July 2020, which showed that off-duty mask use was similarly low in the EMS worker population (77.0%), and even lower for law enforcement respondents (37.0%).…”

Predicting Covid‐19 emergency medical service incidents from daily hospitalisation trends

“…The ongoing outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid‐19) has caused overwhelming disruptions to healthcare systems around the globe, 1‐4 especially the emergency medical services (EMS). Researchers have conducted extensive studies on different aspects of the EMS since the outbreak of Covid‐19, including the temporal distribution of EMS demand and emergency department visits, 5‐17 pre‐hospital patient assessment, 18,19 medical resource availability and allocation, 20‐23 personnel protective equipment, 24‐26 EMS response practices and strategies 14,27‐29 and ethical considerations 30,31 …”

Rapid discovery of optimal messages for behavioral intervention: the case of Hungary and Covid-19

“…Recent studies found that compliance is higher among conservatives [ 11 , 12 , 13 ]; groups with higher income [ 9 ]; people with higher physical fitness; people with a greater perceived risk of the virus [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]; people with higher values of social responsibility, social trust, and lower self-interest [ 17 ]; and people with higher moral obligation [ 18 ]. Since the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, the importance of social distancing is unlikely to change until effective treatments and vaccines become widely available [ 3 , 19 ]. Cellular mobile data revealed that as soon as COVID-19 cases were observed, voluntary compliance improved, but two weeks later, the improvement stopped despite the rise in COVID-19 cases [ 20 ].…”