Background: A national shortage of Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers is a critical issue for the profession that has only worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers have identified possible causes, including difficult workplace conditions, low wages, and burnout. However, the impact of EMS providers' social needs and social risks has yet to be thoroughly explored.
Methods: Demographic data for 1,112 EMS providers who responded to the 2021 national Social Needs in the Pre-hospital Setting (SNIPS) Study were analyzed to produce descriptive statistics and test for differences in social needs using chi square tests.
Results: EMS providers reported experiencing housing insecurity (23.0%), food insecurity (27.4%), struggles with substance use (20.9%), mental health concerns (41.5%), domestic violence (18.5%), and healthcare affordability concerns (30.8%) during their EMS career. Almost 90% of study participants screened positive for burnout. Both women and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) were more likely than men and paramedics respectively to suffer from food and housing insecurity, mental health issues, and domestic violence at some point in their careers.
Discussion: EMS providers reported high levels of burnout as well as a variety of social needs. Social needs may necessitate overtime work, increasing risk of burnout and negatively impacting providers' well-being and contributing to the provider shortage. Barriers to entry for paramedic training and gender differences in promotion rates may exacerbate the disparities experienced by EMTs and female providers, respectively.
Conclusion: With high levels of burnout, staffing shortages, and EMS professionals leaving the profession, more must be done to support EMS providers. This includes programs to facilitate entry to and advancement within the EMS profession, ability to make ends meet without reliance on overtime pay, and mental health support.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10702479 | PMC |
J Transl Med
January 2025
Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital, 150 Haping Road, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150001, People's Republic of China.
Background: Although the TNM staging system plays a critical role in guiding adjuvant chemotherapy for colorectal cancer (CRC), its precision for risk stratification in stage II and III CRC patients with proficient DNA mismatch repair (pMMR) remains limited. Therefore, precise predictive models and research on postoperative treatments are crucial for enhancing patient survival and improving quality of life.
Methods: This retrospective study analyzed 1051 pMMR CRC patients who underwent radical resection and were randomly assigned to training (n = 736) and validation (n = 315) groups.
Exp Mol Med
January 2025
Department of Pharmacy at The Second Affiliated Hospital, and Department of Pharmacology at College of Pharmacy (The Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Medicine Research, Ministry of Education), Harbin Medical University, Harbin, P. R. China.
Doxorubicin (DOX) is a first-line chemotherapy agent known for its cardiac toxicity. DOX-induced cardiotoxicity (DIC) severely limits the use for treating malignant tumors and is associated with a poor prognosis. The sensitivity to DIC varies among patients, but the precise mechanisms remain elusive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHealth Care Manag Sci
January 2025
Healthcare, Topicus, Singel 25, Deventer, Overijssel, 7411 HW, The Netherlands.
Ambulances must be strategically placed to ensure timely patient care and save lives. The allocation problem considered in the current paper optimally distributes a fixed number of ambulances over predetermined bases with limited capacity. Ambulance allocation problems are usually solved through historical demand.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdv Rehabil Sci Pract
January 2025
Consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine, National Rehabilitation Centre, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, UK.
Background: Trauma systems provide comprehensive care across various settings, from prehospital services to rehabilitation, integrating clinical and social care aspects. Established in the 1970s, these systems are pivotal yet under-researched in their operational management. This study aims to fill this gap by focussing on the integration of operations management (OM) techniques to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of trauma systems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Med Inform Decis Mak
January 2025
School of Medicine, University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, USA.
Background: In prehospital emergency care, providers face significant challenges in making informed decisions due to factors such as limited cognitive support, high-stress environments, and lack of experience with certain patient conditions. Effective Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) have great potential to alleviate these challenges. However, such systems have not yet been widely adopted in real-world practice and have been found to cause workflow disruptions and usability issues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!