Mental, emotional and psychological distress in ambulance practice as threats to sustainable staffing

Introduction/background: In ambulance practice, engagement with patients, their families and other professionals is essential. During crisis or tragedy, such interactions have the potential to take an emotional toll on the paramedic. Stigma, culture and other barriers remain in place within health and emergency services to hinder a return to staff wellbeing during distress. Burnout is known to adversely impact employees’ length of employment in health services. Further, suicide rates among paramedics are alarmingly high in some Australian states.
Aim/objectives: This session will explore three threats to clinician wellbeing: emotional burnout, the stress of crisis, and mental health diagnoses. The impact of organisational culture and philosophy in addressing them will be considered, in addition to other potential solutions identified in the literature.
Discussion: Employers not only have a legal duty to ensure that a workplace is as safe as possible, but an ethical responsibility to care for their staff in making supports available when required. Literature indicates that stressors and burnout begin during training, and strategies ought to be available to students in light of their particular vulnerabilities.
Conference Issues/questions for exploration or ideas for discussion: Organisations stand to receive significant benefit from investing in staff wellbeing, and some studies have placed a significant monetary return on investment into wellbeing. Mental, emotional and psychological distress may be a direct result from practice in the health professions, and individual, cultural, and executive approaches to safely maximise career longevity in this regard will be discussed.