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Qualitative Research of Violent Incidents Toward Young Paramedics in the Czech Republic
INTRODUCTION: Prehospital and emergency medical services (EMS) providers are usually the first to respond to an individual’s urgent health needs, sometimes in emotionally charged circumstances. Because violence toward EMS providers in the Czech Republic is often overlooked and under-reported, we do...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, Irvine School of Medicine
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7081846/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32191205 http://dx.doi.org/10.5811/westjem.2019.10.43919 |
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author | Knor, Jiří Pekara, Jaroslav Šeblová, Jana Peřan, David Cmorej, Patrik Němcová, Jitka |
author_facet | Knor, Jiří Pekara, Jaroslav Šeblová, Jana Peřan, David Cmorej, Patrik Němcová, Jitka |
author_sort | Knor, Jiří |
collection | PubMed |
description | INTRODUCTION: Prehospital and emergency medical services (EMS) providers are usually the first to respond to an individual’s urgent health needs, sometimes in emotionally charged circumstances. Because violence toward EMS providers in the Czech Republic is often overlooked and under-reported, we do not have a complete understanding of the extent of such violence, nor do we have recommendations from EMS professional organizations on how to resolve this problem in prehospital emergency medicine. METHODS: We conducted this study to explore the process of violence against EMS providers, using the Strauss/Corbin systematic approach of grounded theory to create a paradigm model. The participants in this research included personnel who had at least two years experience in the EMS systems of the city of Prague and the Central Bohemian Region, and who had been victims of violence. Our sample included 10 registered paramedics and 10 emergency medical technicians ages 23–33 (mean ± standard deviation: 27.7). The impact of communication during EMS delivery, in the context of violence from patients or their relatives, emerged as the core category and the main focus of our study. The five main groups of the paradigm model of violence against EMS personnel included causal, contextual and intervening conditions, strategies, and consequences. RESULTS: Of the 20 study participants, 18 reported experiencing an attack during the night shift. Ten participants experienced violence on the street, and 10 inside an ambulance. The perpetrators in all 18 cases were men. The behavior of EMS personnel plays a crucial role in how violent confrontations play out: nonprofessional behavior with drunken or addict patients increases the possibility of violence in 70% of cases. CONCLUSION: We found that paramedics and EMTs were exposed to verbal abuse and physical violence. However, in 10 of the violent encounters reported by our 20 participants, the attack was perpetrated by otherwise-ordinary people (ie, individuals with strong family support and good jobs) who found themselves in a very stressful situation. Thanks to grounded theory we learned that for all 20 participants there was a potential opportunity to prevent the conflict. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7081846 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, Irvine School of Medicine |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-70818462020-03-24 Qualitative Research of Violent Incidents Toward Young Paramedics in the Czech Republic Knor, Jiří Pekara, Jaroslav Šeblová, Jana Peřan, David Cmorej, Patrik Němcová, Jitka West J Emerg Med Emergency Medical Services INTRODUCTION: Prehospital and emergency medical services (EMS) providers are usually the first to respond to an individual’s urgent health needs, sometimes in emotionally charged circumstances. Because violence toward EMS providers in the Czech Republic is often overlooked and under-reported, we do not have a complete understanding of the extent of such violence, nor do we have recommendations from EMS professional organizations on how to resolve this problem in prehospital emergency medicine. METHODS: We conducted this study to explore the process of violence against EMS providers, using the Strauss/Corbin systematic approach of grounded theory to create a paradigm model. The participants in this research included personnel who had at least two years experience in the EMS systems of the city of Prague and the Central Bohemian Region, and who had been victims of violence. Our sample included 10 registered paramedics and 10 emergency medical technicians ages 23–33 (mean ± standard deviation: 27.7). The impact of communication during EMS delivery, in the context of violence from patients or their relatives, emerged as the core category and the main focus of our study. The five main groups of the paradigm model of violence against EMS personnel included causal, contextual and intervening conditions, strategies, and consequences. RESULTS: Of the 20 study participants, 18 reported experiencing an attack during the night shift. Ten participants experienced violence on the street, and 10 inside an ambulance. The perpetrators in all 18 cases were men. The behavior of EMS personnel plays a crucial role in how violent confrontations play out: nonprofessional behavior with drunken or addict patients increases the possibility of violence in 70% of cases. CONCLUSION: We found that paramedics and EMTs were exposed to verbal abuse and physical violence. However, in 10 of the violent encounters reported by our 20 participants, the attack was perpetrated by otherwise-ordinary people (ie, individuals with strong family support and good jobs) who found themselves in a very stressful situation. Thanks to grounded theory we learned that for all 20 participants there was a potential opportunity to prevent the conflict. Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, Irvine School of Medicine 2020-03 2020-02-21 /pmc/articles/PMC7081846/ /pubmed/32191205 http://dx.doi.org/10.5811/westjem.2019.10.43919 Text en Copyright: © 2020 Knor et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) License. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
spellingShingle | Emergency Medical Services Knor, Jiří Pekara, Jaroslav Šeblová, Jana Peřan, David Cmorej, Patrik Němcová, Jitka Qualitative Research of Violent Incidents Toward Young Paramedics in the Czech Republic |
title | Qualitative Research of Violent Incidents Toward Young Paramedics in the Czech Republic |
title_full | Qualitative Research of Violent Incidents Toward Young Paramedics in the Czech Republic |
title_fullStr | Qualitative Research of Violent Incidents Toward Young Paramedics in the Czech Republic |
title_full_unstemmed | Qualitative Research of Violent Incidents Toward Young Paramedics in the Czech Republic |
title_short | Qualitative Research of Violent Incidents Toward Young Paramedics in the Czech Republic |
title_sort | qualitative research of violent incidents toward young paramedics in the czech republic |
topic | Emergency Medical Services |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7081846/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32191205 http://dx.doi.org/10.5811/westjem.2019.10.43919 |
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