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
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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