Mausz, J.; Johnston, M.; Arseneau-Bruneau, D.; Batt, A.M.; Donnelly, E.A. Prevalence and Characteristics of Violence against Paramedics in a Single Canadian Site. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health2023, 20, 6644.
Mausz, J.; Johnston, M.; Arseneau-Bruneau, D.; Batt, A.M.; Donnelly, E.A. Prevalence and Characteristics of Violence against Paramedics in a Single Canadian Site. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20, 6644.
Mausz, J.; Johnston, M.; Arseneau-Bruneau, D.; Batt, A.M.; Donnelly, E.A. Prevalence and Characteristics of Violence against Paramedics in a Single Canadian Site. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health2023, 20, 6644.
Mausz, J.; Johnston, M.; Arseneau-Bruneau, D.; Batt, A.M.; Donnelly, E.A. Prevalence and Characteristics of Violence against Paramedics in a Single Canadian Site. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20, 6644.
Abstract
Violence against paramedics has been described as a ‘serious public health problem’ but one that remains ‘vastly underreported’, owing to an organizational culture that stigmatizes reporting – hindering efforts at risk mitigation in addition to creating a gap in research. Leveraging a novel reporting process developed after extensive stakeholder consultation and embedded within the electronic patient care record, our objective was to provide a descriptive profile of violence against paramedics in a single paramedic service in Ontario, Canada. Between February 1, 2021, through January 31, 2023, a total of 374 paramedics in Peel Region (48% of the workforce) generated 941 violence reports, of which 40% documented physical (n=364) or sexual (n=19) assault. The violence was typically perpetrated by patients (78%) and primarily took place at the scene of the 9-1-1 call (47%); however, violent behavior frequently persisted or recurred while in transit to hospital and after arrival. Collectively, mental health, alcohol, or drug use were listed as contributing circumstances in 83% of violence reports. In all, 81 paramedics were physically harmed because of an assault. On average, our data correspond to a paramedic filing a violence report every 18 hours, being physically assaulted every 46 hours, and injured every 9 days.
Keywords
Paramedics; Emergency Medical Services; Violence; Occupational Health and Safety; Mental Health
Subject
Public Health and Healthcare, Health Policy and Services
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
