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The Effects of Stressors on Emergency Medical Technicians (Part II): A Critical Review of the Literature, and a Call for Further Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Edwin Boudreaux  and
Cris Mandry
Edwin Boudreaux*
Affiliation:
Louisiana State University School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana
Cris Mandry
Affiliation:
Louisiana State University, Department of Psychology, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
*
1460 Nantahala Blvd., Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464, USA
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Abstract

Part I of this series of articles about stress among emergency medical technicians (EMTs) reviewed the potential sources of EMT stress. This article investigates the other side of the stress equation and provides a critical review of the empirical literature on the effects of stressors on EMTs. It is subdivided into sections corresponding to trends in the research, including: 1) predictors of higher stress levels; 2) differences in stress responses among EMTs, other health professionals, and firefighters; and 3) various physiologic, psychologic, and job performance responses. It identifies some of the methodologic flaws found in the EMT-stress literature that are noted in Part I, and provides further direction for future research. To maintain homogeneity, this review is limited to those articles published in scholarly journals. Studies investigating constructs such as job dissatisfaction and burnout were not included unless the study also included a measure of stress or stressors.

Keywords

emergency medical technicianparamedicstress, occupational stressreactionsreview
Type
Collective Review
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 11 , Issue 4 , December 1996 , pp. 302 - 307
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 1996

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