Work Related Injuries Among Prehospital Emergency Medical Staff, an Observational Study

NCT01091610 | Withdrawn

• 1 other identifier: KEK21-01-10
• Study Type: observational
• Target: N/A
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 2

Brief Summary

Ambulance personnel often work in a dangerous environment and work related injuries of emergency medical staff have repeatedly been documented. However, only case reports are published and no data exist about the incidence and type of work related injuries of ambulance personnel. Aims: The primary aim of the study is to assess the incidence (number of new injuries per 100'000 emergency missions or per 1'000 flying hours) and type of work related injuries among prehospital emergency personal. The secondary aims are to identify risk factors associated with work related injuries and to compare the risk of injury to other groups of professionals such as hospital nurses, policemen or fire-fighters.

Conditions

Wounds and Injuries; Accidents, Occupational

Keywords

retrospective study; wounds and injuries/epidemiology; emergency medical technicians; human; emergency medical services; ambulance; health personnel; emergency medicine; risk factors

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• overall incidence of injuries and mortality

  10 years

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• risk factors for injuries

  10 years

• incidence of additional injuries to others

  10 years

Study Arms (2)

1

all emergency medical staff having suffered an accident during work

Other: no intervention

2

non emergency medical personnel having suffered an injury due to a medical mission, e.g. transported patient having suffered additional injury due to an ambulance accident or collision of an ambulance with another vehicle.

Other: no intervention

Interventions

no intervention OTHER

purely observational retrospective study. no interventions are planned.

1; 2

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

all ambulance companies in Switzerland (including air, ground and water associated) will be contacted to provide data of their personnel of the past 10 years. All accidents leading to leave from work will be analyzed according to parameters concerning the ambulance organisation, the person and the emergency mission. In addition, data of additionally injured non-medical persons due to an emergency mission will be analyzed.

You may qualify if:

• human
• leave from work
• work related mortality
• work related injury
• needle stick injury
• psychological distress
• innocent bystander
• unintentional injury
• intentional injury
• emergency mission

You may not qualify if:

• medical reason
• chronic illness
• non-work related injury
• non-work related mortality

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Insel Gruppe AG, University Hospital Bern: lead
• Sammelstelle der Statistik der Unfallversicherungen (SSUV), Luzern: collaborator

Study Sites (2)

department of anaesthesiology and pain medicine, Bern University Hospital, Bern,

Bern, Canton of Bern, 3010, Switzerland

Location

SSUV Sammelstelle für die Statistik der Unfallversicherungen

Lucerne, Canton of Lucerne, 4358, Switzerland

Location

Related Publications (8)

• Maguire BJ, Hunting KL, Smith GS, Levick NR. Occupational fatalities in emergency medical services: a hidden crisis. Ann Emerg Med. 2002 Dec;40(6):625-32. doi: 10.1067/mem.2002.128681.

  PMID: 12447340 BACKGROUND

• Maguire BJ, Hunting KL, Guidotti TL, Smith GS. Occupational injuries among emergency medical services personnel. Prehosp Emerg Care. 2005 Oct-Dec;9(4):405-11. doi: 10.1080/10903120500255065.

  PMID: 16263673 BACKGROUND

• Studnek JR, Ferketich A, Crawford JM. On the job illness and injury resulting in lost work time among a national cohort of emergency medical services professionals. Am J Ind Med. 2007 Dec;50(12):921-31. doi: 10.1002/ajim.20516.

  PMID: 17918231 BACKGROUND

• Flabouris A, Runciman WB, Levings B. Incidents during out-of-hospital patient transportation. Anaesth Intensive Care. 2006 Apr;34(2):228-36. doi: 10.1177/0310057X0603400216.

  PMID: 16617646 BACKGROUND

• Kahn CA, Pirrallo RG, Kuhn EM. Characteristics of fatal ambulance crashes in the United States: an 11-year retrospective analysis. Prehosp Emerg Care. 2001 Jul-Sep;5(3):261-9. doi: 10.1080/10903120190939751.

  PMID: 11446540 BACKGROUND

• Greene J. Rising helicopter crash deaths spur debate over proper use of air transport. Ann Emerg Med. 2009 Mar;53(3):15A-17A. doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2009.01.007. No abstract available.

  PMID: 19244622 BACKGROUND

• Johnson TD, Lindholm D, Dowd MD. Child and provider restraints in ambulances: knowledge, opinions, and behaviors of emergency medical services providers. Acad Emerg Med. 2006 Aug;13(8):886-92. doi: 10.1197/j.aem.2006.03.562. Epub 2006 Jul 6.

  PMID: 16825667 BACKGROUND

• Becker LR, Zaloshnja E, Levick N, Li G, Miller TR. Relative risk of injury and death in ambulances and other emergency vehicles. Accid Anal Prev. 2003 Nov;35(6):941-8. doi: 10.1016/s0001-4575(02)00102-1.

  PMID: 12971929 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Wounds and Injuries

Study Officials

• Kay H Stricker, MD

  Department of anaesthesiology and pain medicine, Bern University Hospital

  STUDY CHAIR

• Martin Luginbühl, MD

  Department of anaesthesiology and pain medicine, Bern University Hospital

  STUDY DIRECTOR

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: ECOLOGIC OR COMMUNITY
• Time Perspective: RETROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: OTHER

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 21, 2010
• First Posted: March 24, 2010
• Study Start: May 1, 2010
• Last Updated: July 10, 2015

Record last verified: 2011-03

Locations

CH (2)