Emergency Medical Service Brabant Midden-West-Noord, 's Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands.
Research Department of Emergency and Critical Care, HAN University of Applied Sciences, School of Health Studies, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
BMC Emerg Med. 2021 Oct 7;21(1):110. doi: 10.1186/s12873-021-00500-9.
Ambulance care professionals are regularly confronted with critical incidents that increase risks for mental health disorders. To minimize these risks, it is important that ambulance care professionals adequately cope with critical incidents. Especially from the perspective of starting ambulance care professionals it is unknown which coping styles they use when experiencing a critical incident and how they are trained to cope with critical incidents. The aim of this study was to gain insight in (a) what starting ambulance care professionals describe as critical incidents, (b) how they experience these critical incidents and their consequences, (c) how they cope with these incidents, and (d) how they are trained and guided to cope with these incidents.
A qualitative design with individual, semi-structured interviews was used. The data was analyzed by using inductive thematic analysis.
Twenty-two starting ambulance care professionals were interviewed of which, 11 were male. The age ranged from 23 to 31 years, with 11 participants being 27 years or younger. Three key-themes emerged that make an incident critical: (1) emotional connection versus emotional detachment, (2) feeling loss of control, and (3) incomprehension. All participants experienced several short to middle term physical, psychological and social consequences after encountering a critical incident. Starting ambulance care professionals applied different coping strategies during different phases of the ambulance care process: a mix of depersonification, focus on the medical task, support from colleagues and their own network, seeking confirmation, and distraction. Most starting ambulance care professionals don't actively remember they received education about coping with critical incidents during their initial educational program. During and after traineeships, the workplace preceptor has a crucial role for starting ambulance care professionals to learn them how to cope with critical incidents.
Three key-themes interact to make an incident more critical for starting ambulance care professionals. To cope with these critical incidents, starting ambulance care professionals use a variety of coping strategies. These results can be used to develop training and coaching for starting ambulance care professionals so they can adequately cope with critical incidents.
急救护理专业人员经常面临增加心理健康障碍风险的危急事件。为了最大限度地降低这些风险，急救护理专业人员必须能够充分应对危急事件。特别是对于刚入职的急救护理专业人员来说，他们在遇到危急事件时会使用哪些应对方式，以及他们接受了哪些应对危急事件的培训，这些都尚不清楚。本研究旨在深入了解：（a）刚入职的急救护理专业人员所描述的危急事件有哪些；（b）他们如何体验这些危急事件及其后果；（c）他们如何应对这些事件；（d）他们接受了哪些培训和指导以应对这些事件。
本研究采用定性设计，对 22 名刚入职的急救护理专业人员进行了个体半结构化访谈。使用归纳主题分析对数据进行分析。
共采访了 22 名刚入职的急救护理专业人员，其中 11 名为男性。年龄在 23 岁至 31 岁之间，有 11 名参与者年龄在 27 岁或以下。有三个关键主题使事件变得危急：（1）情感联系与情感脱节；（2）失去控制的感觉；（3）无法理解。所有参与者在遇到危急事件后都经历了短期到中期的身心社会后果。刚入职的急救护理专业人员在不同的急救护理过程阶段应用了不同的应对策略：包括去人性化、专注于医疗任务、同事和自己的社交网络的支持、寻求确认和分散注意力。大多数刚入职的急救护理专业人员不记得他们在初始教育计划中接受过应对危急事件的教育。在实习期间和之后，工作场所导师对于刚入职的急救护理专业人员学习如何应对危急事件起着至关重要的作用。
三个关键主题相互作用，使事件对刚入职的急救护理专业人员更为危急。为了应对这些危急事件，刚入职的急救护理专业人员使用了多种应对策略。这些结果可用于为刚入职的急救护理专业人员开发培训和指导，使他们能够充分应对危急事件。
