Page 60 - JSOM Spring 2021

TABLE 3 Employment Profile of EMS Professionals Stratified by Prior Military Service and Specific Stress Syndromes Compared to the
Overall Sample
Civilian EMS Military NSS
496 (64.4%) 61 (71.8%) 187 (24.3%)
Categorical Variables n (%) n (%) n (%)
Human settlement area
Rural 176 (26.7%) 29 (34.1%) 72 (9.7%)
Suburban 194 (29.4%) 21 (24.7%) 72 (9.7%)
Urban 126 (19.1%) 11 (12.9%) 43 (5.8%)
Employment status (full-time) 405 (61.6%) 52 (61.2%) 142 (19.1%)
Primary role (patient attendant) 426 (64.7%) 48 (56.5%) 166 (22.3%)
Secondary employment
EMS 209 (31.8%) 25 (29.4%) 70 (9.4%)
Fire service 80 (12.2%) 10 (11.8%) 29 (3.9%)
Law enforcement 11 (1.7%) 3 (3.5%) 5 (0.7%)
Other public safety 33 (5.0%) 5 (5.9%) 8 (1.1%)
None 371 (56.6%) 43 (50.6%) 143 (19.3%)
Years of field experience
<1 21 (3.2%) 3 (3.5%) 25 (3.4%)
1–5 135 (20.5%) 18 (21.2%) 57 (7.7%)
6–10 145 (22.0%) 15 (17.6%) 42 (5.6%)
11–15 74 (11.2%) 5 (5.9%) 17 (2.3%)
16–20 42 (6.4%) 2 (2.4%) 17 (2.3%)
21–25 38 (5.8%) 8 (9.4%) 13 (1.7%)
>25 41 (6.2%) 10 (11.8%) 15 (2.0%)
Agency type
Municipal (government) 418 (63.4%) 44 (51.8%) 154 (20.7%)
Private, hospital-based 78 (11.8%) 17 (20.0%) 33 (4.4%)
Secondary agency response
N/A; no secondary services 54 (8.2%) 13 (15.3%) 13 (1.7%)
Critical care 31 (4.7%) 0 (0.0%) 7 (0.9%)
MIH 411 (62.4%) 48 (56.5%) 167 (22.4%)
Continuous Variables Mean ± SD Mean ± SD Mean ± SD
Shift length (in hours) 15.55 ± 5.97 15.43 ± 5.32 14.55 ± 5.29
Annual call volume 41,909.62 ± 25,922.35 40,766.66 ± 26,338.41 42,379.89 ± 25,064.19
OHCA 354.54 ± 201.79 331.90 ± 186.15 345.15 ± 194.79
IPV 10.54 ± 8.26 8.49 ± 6.76 10.15 ± 8.02
Death of a child 13.98 ± 11.39 15.26 ± 12.48 14.25 ± 11.59
Electrocution and/or burns 50.00 ± 27.99 47.54 ± 24.20 49.25 ± 26.72
Suicides 42.65 ± 30.50 27.45 ± 27.07 39.76 ± 30.45
Multisystem or significant trauma calls 373.34 ± 779.42 498.78 ± 861.33 467.78 ± 881.06
Homicides 17.07 ± 10.19 13.63 ± 10.48 15.79 ± 9.99
Psychiatric calls 1,519.13 ± 1,191.35 1,213.24 ± 1,036.91 1,412.95 ± 1,155.55
High-risk childbirth 70.90 ± 111.87 114.88 ± 141.18 83.15 ± 124.34
Family or domestic violence 94.98 ± 69.34 70.08 ± 65.91 90.13 ± 69.51
Obvious deaths 424.95 ± 563.43 601.42 ± 742.96 478.13 ± 612.55
MCI 118.37 ± 154.69 84.71 ± 127.84 115.19 ± 150.56
VT = vicarious trauma; CF = compassion fatigue; BO = burnout; NSS = no stress syndrome; MIH = mobile integrated health care; HEMS =
helicopter EMS; OHCA = out-of-hospital cardiac arrest; IPV = intimate partner violence; MC I = mass casualty incident.

in the no-stress group (30 [30.53%] vs 42 [5.6%]), whereas Life Events
the proportion of those currently in counseling was lower in The LEC-5 was used to quantify the proportions of stressful
the veteran group compared to the no-stress group (0.8% vs material experienced by EMS personnel with prior military
3.9%). Irrespective of stress syndromes, the proportion of vet- service (Figure 1). For veterans with the likelihood of any
erans who had considered suicide was over 1.5 times higher stress syndrome, the rate of events directly experienced or that
than in the no-stress group (32 [35.2%] vs 157 [23.1%]); were considered part of their job duties was 2–4 times higher
however, in veterans for whom the effects of stress syndromes than in veterans without stress syndromes. In nearly every
were present, that number surged to 12 times that of the no- category of events that had been witnessed or learned about,
stress group (26 [31.0%] vs 19 [2.6%]). those rates were 1.5–3 times higher in veterans with any stress

58 | JSOM Volume 21, Edition 1 / Spring 2021