Fatal and nonfatal injuries among emergency medical technicians and paramedics

Details

• Personal Author:
  Marsh, Suzanne M. ; Moore, Paul H. ; Reichard AA
• Description:
  Background. Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics serve as primary providers of urgent medical care and are integral components in disaster response. They are at risk for fatal and nonfatal injuries during these activities. Objectives. To describe fatal and nonfatal injuries occurring to EMTs and paramedics. Methods. We analyzed data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) and the occupational supplement to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS-Work) for the period 2003-2007. Results. We identified 99,400 (95 percent confidence interval [CI], 71,700, 127,100) nonfatal injuries treated in emergency departments and 65 fatal injuries from the period 2003-2007. Most fatalities were related to motor vehicle incidents (45 percent) and aircraft crashes (31 percent). Among compensated EMTs and paramedics, the rate of fatal injuries was 6.3 per 100,000 full-time equivalents. Nonfatal injuries were primarily associated with stress on some part of the body from motion or overexertion (33 percent). Among all nonfatal injuries, the most common diagnosis was sprains and strains (38 percent). Conclusions. Emergency medical technicians and paramedics have higher fatal injury rates when compared with all workers. To reduce fatalities, targeted efforts should be made to prevent ground and air transportation incidents. Reducing nonfatal injuries may be accomplished by developing and evaluating interventions to prevent bodily stress and overexertion injuries. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aircraft Automobiles Cumulative Trauma Disorders Delivery Of Health Care Emergencies Emergency Responders Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Health Personnel Mortality Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Safety Transportation

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• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Paramedics Cumulative-trauma Cumulative-trauma-disorders Emergency-care Emergency-responders Emergency-response Emergency-treatment Emergency Medical Technicians Health-care-personnel Information-retrieval-systems Injuries Injury-prevention Medical-care Medical-personnel Medical-rescue-services Medical-treatment Mortality-data Mortality-rates Motor-vehicles Muscle-stress Musculoskeletal-system Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Occupational Exposure Occupational Injuries Occupational Safety Paramedical-services Physical-stress Rescue-workers Surveillance-programs Technical-personnel Traumatic-injuries

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• ISSN:
  1090-3127
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  15
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20039524
• Citation:
  Prehosp Emerg Care 2011 Oct-Dec; 15(4):511-517
• Contact Point Address:
  Audrey A. Reichard, MPH, OTR, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Division of Safety Research, 1095 Willowdale Road, MS 1808, Morgantown, WV 26505
• Email:
  akr5@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• NORA Priority Area:
  Public Safety
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Prehospital Emergency Care
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8d24343c9ebf4c12b4ff85b2346f73f6aa512bdb1454266db1af69fc7e3e8481ab33a8e0d6d4725f51d0ceda7cd798b2fc0f887d9bb862620b48b8cdcee9187d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/192731/cdc_192731_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 110.68 KB ]