![]() ![]() Nearly all personnel reported wearing gloves at the time of exposure, but most were not wearing a protective gown, mask or face shield.Įxample exposures to harmful substances described by EMS providers: Other types of exposures included patients spitting and coughing. About one-fifth of these injuries were needlesticks. The second most common reason for EMS personnel to seek ED treatment was exposure to harmful substances, which mostly involved exposure to blood or respiratory secretions. The patient’s house was very narrow and required a lot of bending and twisting to get him out. The patient shifted her balance in the stair chair and the provider had to compensate.Ī provider was helping carry a patient on a backboard from the patient’s house to the ambulance. The provider was at the bottom of the chair. On a 9-1-1 call to a patient's home, the EMS provider and his partner were bringing the patient down the steps in a stair chair. She held it for 5 minutes while waiting for assistance. She caught the weight of the 350 pound patient and 100 pound stretcher. Nearly half of those performing patient handling indicated that the patient was heavy, overweight or obese.Įxample body motion injuries described by EMS providers:Īn EMS provider and her partner were loading a patient onto a stretcher when the hydraulics on the stretcher broke and the stretcher collapsed. Most personnel with body motion injuries were transferring, carrying or lifting a patient at the time of their injury. Many of these injuries were back and neck sprains and strains. Available at: ĮMS personnel were most commonly treated in EDs for body motion injuries as a result of excessive physical effort, awkward posture or repetitive movement. Each event is detailed below along with scenarios described by injured EMS personnel, with some modifications to protect confidentiality.ĭata source: Reichard AA, Marsh SM, Tonozzi TR, Konda S, Gormley MA (2017): Occupational Injuries and Exposures among Emergency Medical Services Workers, Prehospital Emergency Care. This study identified five primary types of injury events. Thus, males and females were equally likely to sustain an injury. Two-thirds of injuries occurred to male EMS personnel who represent about two-thirds of the workforce. Similarly, more than half of injured EMS personnel had less than 10 years’ of experience. With younger workers outnumbering older workers in the EMS workforce, it follows that more than 40 percent of injured workers were between 18 and 29 years-old. The fact that career workers had more injuries than volunteers may simply reflect that they spent more time in the field. Three-quarters of injured workers were full-time, career EMS workers and an additional 10 percent were part-time, career workers. Because we relied on data readily available to us to describe the injury risks to EMS personnel, we recognize that we are only providing one piece of the bigger picture. Of course, there are more EMS personnel that seek care at other places or even self-treat, therefore there is no way to count every injury. The rate of injuries among career EMS personnel treated in the ED was more than four times higher than the rate for all workers. On average, 22,000 career and volunteer EMS personnel visited emergency departments each year for work-related injuries. How many EMS personnel are injured each year? The data were weighted in order to produce national estimates of the number of EMS personnel treated in EDs for work-related injuries. These injuries included exposures to harmful substances. They interviewed a sample of EMS personnel treated in emergency departments for work-related injuries during a four-year period (July 2010 through June 2014). The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Emergency Medical Services joined forces with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in an effort to understand work-related injuries occurring to EMS personnel. Therefore, the first step in being able to prevent injuries is to know how many there are and what is causing them. However, you can’t prevent what you don’t understand. With the Occupational Outlook Handbook projecting that the demand for EMTs and paramedics will increase 24 percent from 2014-2024, it is vital that injuries to workers be prevented to protect and preserve the workers and the workforce. 3 ways to reduce, prevent EMS-related back pain ![]()
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