Objective: Paramedicine clinicians (PCs) in the United States (US) respond to 40 million calls for assistance every year. Their fatality rates are high and their rates of nonfatal injuries are higher than other emergency services personnel, and much higher than the average rate for all US workers. The objectives of this paper are to: describe current occupational injuries among PCs; determine changes in risks over time; and calculate differences in risks compared to other occupational groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction/study Objectives: Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics respond to 40 million calls for assistance every year in the United States; these paramedicine clinicians are a critical component of the nation's health care, disaster response, public safety, and public health systems. The study objective is to identify the risks of occupational fatalities among paramedicine clinicians working in the United States.
Methods: To determine fatality rates and relative risks, this cohort study focused on 2003 through 2020 data of individuals classified as EMTs and paramedics by the United States Department of Labor (DOL).
Open Access Emerg Med
September 2021
Background: Over the course of the COVID-19 progress, reports from many locations around the world indicated major increases in EMS call volume, which imposed great pressure on EMS dispatch centers (EMSDC) globally. No studies yet have been done to examine this phenomenon.
Objective: This paper examines the interrelated effects of the unprecedented global increase of EMS call, the effect of the COVID-19 crisis on responding to non-COVID-19 emergencies, and the concurrent effects of having overwhelmed dispatch centers.
Arch Public Health
March 2020
The use of metrics is necessary for decision making when it comes to evaluating the need for interventions and improve healthcare delivery (Adams, Metrics: What Counts in Global Health, 2016). They inform policy makers on the scale of the problem in hand, and whether it's time to intervene. It quantifies the matter of interest and gives an indication whether the intervention taken was effective or not- as a means for monitoring and evaluation (Murray and Frenk, Lancet 371:1191-1199, 2008).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Infect Control
March 2020
Introduction: The prevalence of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) nasal colonization among Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel is not well studied. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonization can be a health hazard for both EMS personnel and patients. The aim of this study was to quantify the prevalence of MRSA colonization among EMS personnel.
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