Page 59 - JSOM Spring 2021

TABLE 1 Sociodemographic Profile of EMS Professionals With Prior have included combat patrols while deployed or any other oc-
Military Service Compared to the Overall Sample [n (%)] cupational duty considered dangerous by the participant.
Civilian EMS Military
496 (64.4%) 61 (71.8%) Twenty-one (23.6%) functioned as a combat medic while in
Male gender 249 (37.8%) 49 (57.6%) the military. A complete profile of military service history strat-
Sexual orientation ified by the likelihood of stress syndromes is located in Table 2.
Homosexual 36 (5.5%) 3 (3.5%)
Heterosexual 439 (67.3%) 57 (67.1%) TABLE 2 Military Service Profile of EMS Professionals With Any
Other 14 (2.1%) 1 (1.2%) Stress Syndrome or No Stress Syndrome
Any Stress
No Stress
Age group, y 61 (71.8%) 24 (28.2%)
19–25 115 (17.7%) 3 (3.6%) Categorical Variables n (%) n (%)
26–32 141 (21.7%) 21 (23.6%) Branch of service
33–39 89 (13.7%) 10 (11.2%) Army 40 (65.6%) 16 (66.7%)
40–46 81 (12.5%) 12 (13.5%) Navy 4 (6.6%) 4 (16.7%)
47–52 48 (7.4%) 8 (8.9%) Marine Corps 9 (14.8%) 2 (8.3%)
>53 19 (2.9%) 7 (7.9%) Air Force 7 (11.5%) 2 (8.3%)
Education Coast Guard 1 (1.6%) 0 (0.0%)
High school diploma 50 (7.6%) 3 (3.5%) Overseas deployment to 32 (52.5%) 15 (62.5%)
Some college 170 (25.8%) 26 (30.6%) combat zone
Associate degree 149 (22.6%) 18 (21.2%) Active engagement of the enemy 25 (41.0%) 12 (50.0%)
Bachelor’s degree 112 (17.0%) 11 (12.9%) Service as a combat medic 12 (19.7%) 8 (33.3%)
Master’s degree 14 (2.1%) 3 (3.5%) Other dangerous duty 36 (59.0%) 15 (62.5%)
Doctoral degree 1 (0.2%) 0 (0.0%) Continuous Variables Mean ± SD Mean ± SD
Race Years of service 8.27 ± 5.89 7.03 ± 5.25
Caucasian 439 (66.7%) 50 (58.8%) Total deployment time (in months) 19.82 ± 15.96 21.29 ± 24.47
African American 25 (3.8%) 6 (7.1%)
American Indian or Alaskan Native 6 (0.9%) 1 (1.2%) Employment Profile
Asian 1 (0.2%) 1 (1.2%) Table 3 illustrates the employment profile of EMS personnel
Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander 0 (0.0%) 1 (1.2%) with and without prior military service. More than 3 times as
many EMS personnel with stress syndromes had an additional
Two or more races 20 (3.0%) 2 (2.4%) part-time job in EMS compared to those providers who did
Other 5 (0.8%) 0 (0.0%) not have a stress syndrome. Nearly 4 times as many personnel
Marital status without stress syndromes worked in the fire service part-time
Single 213 (32.5%) 10 (11.8%) in addition to their full-time EMS employment, irrespective
Married 206 (31.4%) 39 (45.9%) of prior military service. The mean shift length (in hours) was
Separated 17 (2.6%) 3 (3.5%) nearly an hour longer for prior-service EMS personnel with
Divorced 56 (8.5%) 9 (10.6%) stress syndromes compared to those without.
Widowed 2 (0.3%) 0 (0.0%)
Annual income Childhood Trauma Profile
The ACEs questionnaire was used to evaluate the proportion
< $20,000 17 (2.6%) 1 (1.2%) of childhood trauma in EMS personnel with stress syndromes
$20,001–$40,000 126 (19.2%) 13 (15.3%) with and without prior military service compared to the over-
$40,001–$60,000 185 (28.2%) 9 (10.6%) all sample (Table 4). Veterans had higher rates of emotional
$60,001–$80,000 98 (14.9%) 21 (24.7%) and sexual abuse, parental divorce, maternal domestic vio-
$80,001–$100,000 64 (9.8%) 13 (15.3%) lence, familial mental illness, depression or suicide, and incar-
> $100,000 47 (7.2%) 4 (4.7%) cerated family members than their nonveteran counterparts.
Credential level In some cases, the rates of adverse childhood experiences in
EMT 88 (13.4%) 8 (9.4%) the population of EMS personnel with prior military service
AEMT 38 (5.8%) 3 (3.5%) was 1.5–3.0 times higher than in those personnel for which no
stress syndrome could be assigned. The ACEs total score was a
Paramedic 370 (56.2%) 50 (58.8%) full point higher in EMS personnel with prior military service
VT = vicarious trauma; CF = compassion fatigue; BO = burnout; NSS compared to the overall sample (2.47 [±2.27] vs 1.46 [±1.78]).
= no stress syndrome; EMT = emergency medical technician; AEMT =
advanced emergency medical technician.
Resource Profile
Of those, 49 (55.1%) deployed overseas for a mean (±SD) Survey questions related to the understanding of what re-
total time deployed of 20.1 (±18.7) months with an aver- sources were available to EMS personnel if they experienced a
age of 7.3 (±5.4) years of active-duty service. A total of 39 critical stress event are located in Table 5. More than double
(43.8%) either actively engaged the enemy and/or were ac- the rate of prior-service EMS personnel were aware that inci-
tively engaged by the enemy during combat operations, and 53 dent debriefing, crisis intervention teams (CIT), employee as-
(59.5%) reported conducting combat patrols or participating sistance programs (EAP), and time off were available to them.
in other dangerous duties. Other dangerous duties were de- The overall proportion of veterans in the stress group who had
fined subjectively by the respondent in that this category could a prior history of counseling was nearly 6 times higher than

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