Organizational Support and Psychological Well-Being of EMS Providers Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
Author: Celia Sporer, Jody Resko, and Daniel Armstrong | |
Associate Authors:
<p><strong>Introduction:</strong></p>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic challenged the resources of healthcare organizations and added further stress to an already stressed population of EMS providers.</p>
<p><strong>Objective:</strong></p>
<p>To identify if and how organizational support impacted EMS providers’ psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<p><strong>Hypothesis:</strong></p>
<p>EMTs/paramedics who reported higher levels of organizational support demonstrated higher levels of psychological well-being and healthier coping mechanisms.</p>
<p><strong>Methods:</strong></p>
<p>Data were collected from July 2022 through June 2023. To be included, respondents had to be EMS providers who were active for at least year prior to the start of data collection. A total of 190 eligible surveys were completed: 83 EMTs (43.7%) and 107 paramedics (56.3%) were included in the study. Respondents filled out a survey that included questions based on validated measures about how their organization supported them through the COVID-19 pandemic. Measures included the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Maslach Burnout Inventory-HSS (MBI), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MDSPSS), Posttraumatic Checklist (PCL-5), Dispositional Resilience Scale (DRS), Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), and the Brief Cope Scale (BCS).</p>
<p><strong>Results:</strong></p>
<p>A significant (p < .05) positive correlation was found between perception of organization support during the COVID-19 pandemic and the organizational-support surveyed variables. Better perception of organization support was negatively correlated with MBI-emotional exhaustion, MBI-depersonalization, PSS, PCL-5, substance use, behavioral disengagement, humor, and self-blame but was positively correlated with all social support measures, emotional support, instrumental support, religion. and BRS scores.</p>
<p><strong>Conclusion:</strong></p>
<p>EMS provider perception of organizational support plays a powerful role in EMS provider psychological well-being and accounts for healthier coping mechanisms.</p
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