Emergency medics on a Great North Air Ambulance Service training course
Emergency medics on a Great North Air Ambulance Service training course
North East researchers have warned that emergency responders risk burnout every day - and there is a "real danger" of long term health consequences for those working on the front line.
That's according to a first-of-its-kind study conducted by Northumbria University in collaboration with the Great North Air Ambulance Service. Researcher Professor Mark Wetherell monitored the participants in an intensive emergency medicine training programme to look at how stressful day-to-day scenarios impacted them.
Prof Wetherell monitored a range of physical factors and examined the effect of a series of real-life scenarios such as road traffic accidents, terrorist incidents and water-based rescues - which form part of the training - on the health of those involved.
The research - published in the Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine - found those taking part in the training programme "displayed notably higher levels of anxiety, stress, worry, heart rate and cortisol on training days compared to their rest days". The team said this highlighted that recovery time was vital to mitigate the long-term impact.
Prof Wetherell said: "When people attend an emergency situation their bodies immediately go through rapid psychobiological responses which are essential in helping them to deal with a critical incident.
A Great North Air Ambulance Service training course (Image: GNAAS)
“This is all well and good in the short term but if these responses occur frequently, or are sustained, as they are for emergency responders, then this can place undue strain on physiological systems and could lead to long term health and wellbeing problems including burnout.
“Our study found significant increases in psychobiological activity in people experiencing highly stressful high-fidelity emergency medicine training.
“Worryingly, the greatest levels of psychobiological activity occurred on the days when people felt they had the least control over the situation and the least coping resources – these were the days that were most representative of the kind of activities that they encounter in their everyday lives.”
Citing reports that around half of emergency medics experience "moderate to high" levels of burnout, the professor added: "This study shines a spotlight on what can be done to help the long-term health and wellbeing of these professionals working in this sector.
“It reinforces the importance of recovery periods to avoid the negative consequences of repeated and sustained activation of the physiological and biological mechanisms required to deal with challenging events."
A total of 27 doctors and paramedics took part in the study. Researchers took samples of their saliva throughout each day to measure their cortisol levels and collected data on their heart rate variability from smartwatches provided to all participants.
The participants were also asked to report on their levels of physical and mental anxiety, emotional stress and self-confidence on waking up and before going to sleep.
The course also saw them go through changes in shift patterns and incidents running back-to-back, which emergency responders would experience during their day-to-day roles. The research team said on these days the medics "experienced even higher levels of psychobiological response and reported lower levels of coping resources and control".
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