Stress in the Prehospital EMS and Disaster Setting

Extract

While formal efforts have been made during the past quarter century in the United States to develop and coordinate emergency medical services (EMS) as a “system” of care, it was not until the past decade that we began to recognize and acknowledge the impact of stress on the lives of EMS and other public safety personnel, in both normal day-to-day response to emergencies as well as response to mass casualty incidents or disasters. The first significant writing on this complex issue, Emergency Response to Crisis, by Jeffrey T. Mitchell, PhD and H. L. P. Resnik, MD, provided a crisis intervention guidebook for emergency service personnel and early insight on crisis-worker stress and burnout. The most recent comprehensive discussion of this important area of concern can be found in Emergency Services Stress, by Mitchell and Grady Bray, PhD.