Secondary traumatic stress in emergency medicine clinicians

Abstract

Previously called Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS), secondary exposure to trauma is now considered a valid DSM-5 Criterion A stressor for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Previous studies have found high rates of STS in clinicians who treat traumatically injured patients. However, little research has examined STS among Emergency Medicine (EM) physicians and advanced practice providers (APPs). The current study enrolled EM providers (N = 118) working in one of 10 hospitals to examine risk factors, protective factors, and the prevalence of STS in this understudied population. Most of the participants were physicians (72.9%), Caucasian (85.6%), and male (70.3%) with mean age of 39.7 (SD = 8.9). Overall, 12.7% of the sample screened positive for STS with clinical levels of intrusion, arousal, and avoidance symptom clusters, and 33.9% had at least one symptom cluster at clinical levels. Low resilience and a history of personal trauma were positively associated with positive STS screens and STS severity scores. Borderline significance suggested that female gender and spending ≥10% of one's time with trauma patients could be additional risk factors. Findings suggest that resilience-building interventions may be beneficial.

Changes in Working Conditions and Mental Health Among Intensive Care Physicians Across a Decade

“…It is possible that intensive care physicians may not be proficient in the assessment, perception, and interpretation of psychiatric symptoms. Nevertheless, our data are consistent with previous reports of severe stress in intensive care physicians caused by the specific challenges in this area of work (5,60).…”

Secondary Traumatic Stress and Burnout Among Refugee Resettlement Workers: The Role of Coping and Emotional Intelligence

“…Personal trauma history, including direct exposure to traumatic events such as childhood abuse, criminal victimization, and natural disaster, has been correlated with increased STS among professionals who work therapeutically with trauma victims (Hensel, Ruiz, Finney, & Dewa, 2015), including child protective services workers (Bride, Jones, & MacMaster, 2007) and emergency medicine clinicians (Roden-Foreman et al, 2017). Research has indicated that any trauma history can increase the risk of STS among care providers, although experiencing a similar type of trauma to the one the individual they are supporting has experienced can be even more deleterious in terms of STS outcomes (Hensel et al, 2015).…”

Prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Emergency Physicians in the United States

“…9 A study of EPs and advance practice providers from a group practice in the U.S. found a PTSD prevalence of 12.7%. 10 Research from other countries corroborates this vulnerability, with prevalence of self-assessed PTSD of 16.8% in German EPs, 15.4% in Pakistani EPs, and 14.5% in Belgian EPs. [11][12][13] The objective of this study was to determine the point prevalence of PTSD in a cohort of practicing EPs from multiple practice settings in the U.S., and to compare this to the prevalence in the general population.…”