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- Karlsson, Kåre, et al.
(författare)
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Heart rate as a marker of stress in ambulance personnel : A pilot study of the body's response to the ambulance alarm
- 2011
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Ingår i: Prehospital and Disaster Medicine. - : Cambridge University Press. - 1049-023X .- 1945-1938. ; 26:1, s. 21-26
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Introduction: Studies have demonstrated the presence of stress and post-traumatic stress among ambulance personnel, but no previous research has focused on the body's reaction in the form of the change in heart rate of ambulance staff in association with specific occupational stress.Hypothesis: The purpose of this study is to investigate whether work as an ambulance professional generates prolonged physiological arousal that can be measured by heart rate in different situations.Methods: Twenty participants carried a pulse-meter in the form of a wristwatch, which continuously measured and stored their heart rate 24 hours per day for a period of seven days. All ambulance alarms that occurred during the test period were recorded in journals, and the participants completed diaries and a questionnaire describing their experiences. The alarms were divided into different phases. Correlations between heart rate in the different phases were computed.Results: Analysis of study data indicated a significant rise of heart rate unrelated to physical effort during an emergency alarm and response. This increased heart rate was noticed throughout the mission and it was not related to the length of experience the staff had in the ambulance profession. In addition, a non-significant trend suggested that alarms involving acutely ill children lead to an even higher increase in heart rate. In addition, this research showed that constant tension existed during sleep, while available for an emergency, indicated by a noticeable increase in heart rate during sleep at work compared to sleeping at home.Conclusions: A rise in heart rate was experienced during all acute emergency missions, regardless of a subject's experience, education, and gender. Missions by themselves generated a rate increase that did not seem to correlate with physical effort required during an emergency response. This study shows that working on an ambulance that responds to medical emergencies is associated with a prolonged physiological arousal.
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| 2. |
- Elmqvist, Carina, et al.
(författare)
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Trapped between doing and being : First provider´s experiences of ”front line” work
- 2012
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Ingår i: International Emergency Nursing. - : Elsevier Ltd. - 1755-599X .- 1878-013X. ; 20:3, s. 113-119
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A common focus in research studies within the Emergency Department (ED) is physician patient relations, experiences of the triage model and nurses´ experiences of caring. Little has, however, been written about different first providers´ experiences of working on the “front line” at the ED. The aim of this study was to describe and understand experiences of being the first provider on the “front line” at the ED, as expressed by nurse assistants, registered nurses and physicians. A reflective lifeworld research approach was used in four different caring situations. The data consisted of eight open-ended interviews with first providers. The analysis showed that being the first provider on the “front line” at the ED entails a continuous movement between providing and responding through performing “life-saving” actions and at the same time create a good relationship with the patient and the next of kin. Five constituents further described the variations of the phenomenon. The readiness to save lives creates a perceived stress of time pressure and the first providers adopt different strategies to cope with the work. Instead of leaving the first providers to find their own way to cope with the complex situation, there are needs for a redesigning of the internal work process within ED organizations.
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