Occupational fatalities in emergency medical services: A hidden crisis

Maguire, Brian J.; Hunting, Katherine L.; Smith, Gordon S.; Levick, Nadine

doi:10.1067/mem.2002.128681

Cited by 324 publications

(221 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…2,4,7,8 Additional stressors associated with the provision of care include the risks of exposure to blood-borne pathogens, 9-11 verbal or physical violence, 7,12,13 and injury or death from vehicle-related crashes. [14][15][16] To a lesser extent, other research efforts have found that paramedics may also experience chronic work-related stressors, including insufficient salaries, 17,18 conflict with administrators, 17,19,20 lack of support from or conflict with colleagues, 2,3,5,[17][18][19][20][21] and interference with nonwork-related activities. 3,5,17,21 Exposure to work-related stressors has been linked to stress reactions, most frequently to posttraumatic stress.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of posttraumatic stress and preferred sources of social support among Canadian paramedics

Donnelly

Bradford

Davis

et al. 2015

CJEM

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Objective: Emergency medical service (EMS) providers are exposed to a variety of stressors endemic to the profession. These exposures may contribute to stress reactions, including posttraumatic stress. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between work-related stressors and posttraumatic stress. The secondary objective was to determine paramedics' preferred sources of support for managing work-related stress. Methods: 269 paramedics in a county-based EMS service were invited to complete an online survey. Respondents reported their demographic characteristics, levels of chronic stress, critical incident stress, posttraumatic stress symptomatology (PTSS), and preferred sources of support for managing work-related stress.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of posttraumatic stress and preferred sources of social support among Canadian paramedics

Donnelly

Bradford

Davis

et al. 2015

CJEM

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“…Moreover, among United States (US) firefighters, coronary heart disease (CHD) causes 40-45% of all on-duty deaths (Washburn et al, 1998;Tridata Corporation, 2002;Fahy, 2005). This is twice the proportion of on-duty cardiovascular deaths among police officers (Tridata Corporation, 2002) and four times the proportion among emergency medical service workers (Maguire et al, 2002). Predisposing medical and occupational factors for CHD among firefighters have been reviewed elsewhere (Guidotti, 1992;Melius, 2001;Kales et al, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonality and Coronary Heart Disease Deaths in United States Firefighters

Mbanu

Wellenius

Mittleman

et al. 2007

Chronobiology International

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United States firefighters have a high on-duty fatality rate and coronary heart disease is the leading cause. Seasonality affects the incidence of cardiovascular events in the general population, but its effects on firefighters are unknown. We statistically examined the seasonal and annual variation of all on-duty coronary heart disease deaths among US firefighters between 1994 and 2004 using the chi-square distribution and Poisson regression model of the monthly fatality counts. We also examined the effect of ambient temperature (apparent as well as wind chill temperature) on coronary heart disease fatalities during the study span using a time-stratified, case-crossover study design. When grouped by season, we observed the distribution of the 449 coronary heart disease fatalities to show a relative peak in winter (32%) and relative nadir in spring (21%). This pattern was significantly different (p=0.005) from the expected distribution under the null hypothesis where season has no effect. The pattern persisted in additional analyses, stratifying the deaths by the type of duty in which the firefighters were engaged at the time of their deaths. In the Poisson regression model of the monthly fatality counts, the overall goodness-of-fit between the actual and predicted case counts was excellent ( = 16.63; p = 0.002). Two distinct peaks were detected, one in January-February and the other in August-September. Overall, temperature was not associated with increased risk of on-duty death. After allowing for different effects of temperature in mild/hot versus cold periods, a 1°C increase was not protective in cold weather, nor did it increase the risk of death in warmer weather. The findings of this study reveal statistical evidence for excess coronary heart disease deaths among firefighters during winter; however, the temporal pattern coronary heart disease deaths was not linked to temperature variation. We also found the seasonal pattern to be independent of duty-related risks.

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“…It was found out, that occupational fatality rate for emergency workers exceeds that of the general population and is comparable with that of other emergency public service workers [16] . Besides mentioned, sprains and strains are the leading injury [17] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Does employment in high risk professions relating to firefighters and emergency workers cause injuries that requires long hospitalization?

Lalić

Kruljac

2013

JHA

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Firefighters and emergency workers are exposed to increased injury risks. The objective of the paper was to find out if such activities cause injuries that require long hospitalization. The files of 137 firefighters in Littoral Mountainous County, Croatia, were examined as well as those of 120 emergency workers in the last decade. The results have shown that on average firefighters were treated in hospitals 1.33 days, and emergency workers 0.018 days, p = .019, p < .05. The firefighters' sick leave was longer, with a mean 63.91 days compared to emergency workers sick leave mean 22.90 days, but if two firefighters on long sick leave were excluded, the difference between two groups was not significant, p = .256, p > .05. While these injuries result in short hospitalizations time the sick leave time takes longer and requires extensive outpatient physical therapy that burden hospital system. Overall, the amount of medical care time to return these injured workers to duty is large, there is necessity of implementing innovative injury prevention programs.

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Occupational fatalities in emergency medical services: A hidden crisis

Cited by 324 publications

References 19 publications

Predictors of posttraumatic stress and preferred sources of social support among Canadian paramedics

Predictors of posttraumatic stress and preferred sources of social support among Canadian paramedics

Seasonality and Coronary Heart Disease Deaths in United States Firefighters

Does employment in high risk professions relating to firefighters and emergency workers cause injuries that requires long hospitalization?

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