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Critical Incident Stress and Occupational Health Issues in EMS
Questions and Answers
Critical Incident Stress
1
What is a critical incident?
A critical or incident is defined as a powerful or emotionally provoking event experienced by the EMS provider. This stressor typically overwhelms the person’s normal coping mechanisms and significantly differs from the ordinary events experienced on the job. Incidents such as line-of-duty death or critical injury, death of child, severe child abuse case, mass casualty or disaster event, injury to a known victim such as family or friend, or acts of workplace violence are examples of possible critical incidents.
2
What is critical incident stress?
Critical incident stress is a term used to describe the human emotional response to a critical or traumatic incident. Some providers will experience symptoms immediately, while others will have symptoms develop gradually. The symptoms of critical incident stress can vary significantly between providers, even if they have experienced the same traumatic incident. The reaction can be subjective, so we must ask, “Does the provider consider this significant?”.
3
Why is critical incident stress an important topic for prehospital providers?
Psychologically stressful events are an inherent part of a career in EMS. Critical incidents differ from the daily stressors experienced by providers and can be a matter of life and death. A 2016 national survey found a rate of 5.2% for deaths by suicide among EMTs, paramedics, and firefighters. This rate exceeds the rate of deaths by suicides for non-EMS professionals by 3%. Maintaining the health, safety, and success of EMS providers is critical to the profession and to patient care.
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