[Major contributing factors of self perceived health in Hungarian ambulance personnel].

Unlabelled: Health status of ambulance personnel has an important impact on the quality of patient care. Surveys in some smaller regions of Hungary have been conducted on health behavior of ambulance personnel; however they do not mirror the complexity of multidimensional health status in this respect. The aim of the present study is to examine the self-perceived health status of ambulance personnel (AP) and its most salient work related and individual factors.

Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional survey was carried out among AP of the Hungarian National Ambulance and Emergency Service in 2008. The survey covered all the regions and sample taking ensured the study to be of representative value. Anonymously 364 individuals gave their answers that could be evaluated. After data procession and coding, records were statistically analyzed by SPSS 15.0. Spearman correlation, chi-square test and multivariable logistic regression analyses were applied to measure the significance of variables. The survey was conducted with a self-fill-in questionnaire measuring the following dimensions of self-perceived health: self-rated health, self-rated physical fitness and limitation in daily activities by health problems.

Results: The results revealed that self-perceived general health status of ambulance personnel does not differ significantly among the emergency units in many terms. However, there are significant differences regarding the complexity of the duties what they have to deal. In their self rated health 1.9 times (95% CI:1.2-2.8), in their self rated physical fitness 2.0 times (95% CI:1.3-3) and in the limitation of daily activities by health problems 1.9 times (95% CI:1.2-3.1) those ambulance personnel feel more favorable who do any kind of sports activity. Generally they experience serious stress; they have not enough leisure time and hardly do sport. Due to their bad lifestyle all fifth ambulance personnel suffer from serious obesity.

Conclusion: Physical activity may enhance self perceived health even though if the person delivers physical symptoms. Regular training to increase the physical fitness should be implemented for ambulance personnel that could well contribute to copying with psychological trauma.