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    Living in Critical Times: The Impact of Critical Incidents on Frontline Ambulance Personnel: A Qualitative Perspective


    Gallagher, Sharon and McGilloway, Sinéad (2008) Living in Critical Times: The Impact of Critical Incidents on Frontline Ambulance Personnel: A Qualitative Perspective. International Journal of Emergency Mental Health and Human Resilience, 9 (3). pp. 215-224. ISSN 1522-4821

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    Abstract

    Little is known about the impact of Critical Incidents (CIs) on the lives of ambulance personnel. One-to-one interviews were conducted with 27 participants who had experienced CIs during the previous 12 months in order to: assess the nature and impact of CIs on health and well-being; examine attitudes toward support services; and explore barriers to service use. The results showed that incidents involving children, suicides, and grotesque mutilation were the most distressing. Participants reported a wide range of physical and mental health problems including sleep difficulties, angry outbursts, irrationality and feelings of alienation. Key themes included: low support service uptake due to fears relating to confidentiality and machismo; a perceived lack of concern and support from management; and a need for professional counselling and stress awareness training. Emergency Medical Controllers (EMCs) also reported a number of difficulties unique to their role. The findings suggest that exposure to CIs has a significant impact on health and well-being; this has important implications for recognizing and appropriately addressing the health and training needs of ambulance personnel, including the effective management of Critical Incident Stress.

    Item Type: Article
    Additional Information: All works published by OMICS International are under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. This permits anyone to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt the work provided the original work and source is appropriately cited.
    Keywords: Critical Incident Stress; Emergency Medical Technicians; Emergency Medical Controllers; qualitative research; dispatchers;
    Academic Unit: Faculty of Science and Engineering > Psychology
    Item ID: 9291
    Depositing User: Dr. Sinéad McGilloway
    Date Deposited: 08 Mar 2018 16:40
    Journal or Publication Title: International Journal of Emergency Mental Health and Human Resilience
    Publisher: OMICS International
    Refereed: Yes
    URI:
    Use Licence: This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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