Hello and thank you for taking the time to look at my first post on this forum. I started Paramedic school last night and was assigned a rather broad research project of a three to four page paper on anything pertaining to EMS. As I said, broad. I was thinking of veering away from the conventional thought of picking a pathology or history of EMS to write about. I was thinking more along the lines of the medics themselves and their well-being. I was thinking about something along the lines of what we could improve as far as the physical and mental well-being of EMS operators, what effects acute and long-term PTSD and exposure to dynamic situations and crisis events have on medics and their lives. I know that we are headed into the future constantly with our technology, but where are we heading with our personnel? Does anyone have any good credible leads on sources of information related these topics? Any thoughts on the matter and help would be much appreciated! Thanks again!
Research Project
- Thread starter JHarper
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Sleep deprivation and its effects on the health of providers, job performance, etc.would be a good one.
abckidsmom
Dances with Patients
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Sleep deprivation and overall life satisfaction. 24 hour shifts vs some other plan.
Or read On Combat, by Dave Grossman and write about applying that military and law enforcement research to EMS providers and the stress we can feel.
NomadicMedic
I know a guy who knows a guy.
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Pros and cons of CISD.
Wes
Forum Lieutenant
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Does response time matter?
Having worked a 40 hour workweek, a 24/48 with no Kellys, and the NOVA schedule, which is the same thing but just structured differently, I'll say that anything over a 42 hour regular workweek is inappropriate for emergency services. If you're working a 24hour shift, it should be a 24/72. If you're working an 8, 12, or 16 hour shift, the workweek should be no more than 40 hours, like everyone else.
Too many places have their 12 hour employees working a 48 hour workweek, and the 48's are typically a 56 hour schedule. Many of us do a significant amount of OT and per diem work, so in the case of the 48 hour employee working 12's, extra shift and holdovers keep you coming to work almost every day, and 12's can routinely become 14's or worse with late calls. The 56 hour employee, through extra shifts and holdovers can exceed an average 80 hour workweek. A fair amount of our people typically try for three 24's a month of OT, and a 12 hour shift or two. That's around 80 hours/week right there. In either case, if you get up at night to run calls, you can end up being useless for the brief time that you're home, and working the extra days means that you're going to be at work for that many more weekends, that many more holidays, and losing sleep for that many more nights. We should have a 40 hour workweek just like everyone else. The longer workweeks help the employers with scheduling and saving money on employee benefits, so I don't see anything changing anytime soon.
I don't how the federal firefighters do it, working a nearly perpetual 24 on/24 with only an occasional Kelly day, or even Ft. Belvoir's 48/72. If I have to do a 56 hour week, I'd prefer the 48/96.
Sandog
Forum Asst. Chief
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Your first class and you already have to do a paper. Man, that stinks.
NomadicMedic
I know a guy who knows a guy.
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Sounds like a pretty good idea to me. The Tacoma Community College Paramedic Program has a module as part of the degree program called "Studes in Contemporary EMS". It's a class that teaches you how to read an interpret medical research and requires several position papers. It's really not a bad idea to learn a little more than, "Ugh. Mongo put tube in hole!"
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Nope, but it sounds like a great topic.
Congrats on coming up with the idea and good luck.