Abstract
Paramedics’ safety is very important in the emergency medical service field. The EMS worker injury can result in harmful effect on performance of the practioners. This paper is therefore put in a position of discussing the various types of injuries that the emergency medical service workers face and also the provision of various solutions that will enable the paramedic and the EMS organization curb such injuries. The reason for this is that any injury that occurs to workers in an emergency service becomes an area of concern in any health organization that interferes with the health care delivery in many health institutions. This paper will therefore deal with the causes of injuries to the individuals working in today’s emergency medical services
Among the causes of these injuries that the paper will focus is that of, needlestick injuries, ambulance crash related injuries, aviation crashes, stress and trauma related injuries, workplace violence. The solutions and recommendations that will be provided in the paper will therefore be; management of needlestick injuries, stress management, airport security improvements, prevention of ambulance crashes, handling of workplace violence.
Introduction
Emergency medical services are normally used both in urban and rural areas. These services are normally found in hospitals and health centers to deal with the emergency cases. Such systems are mostly used in intensive care unit, reception area and also place like theatre. An injury to workers in an emergency service is an area of concern in any health organization that interferes with the health care delivery in many health institutions. Since ineffective and efficient Health care delivery can always result in injuries on many emergency workers. This paper will therefore deal with the causes of injuries to the individuals working in today’s emergency medical services (NIOSH, 1996).
Background to the Study
The provision of emergency medical services is considered to be relatively a new industry; this industry is mainly associated with the use of ambulance that provide emergency services mainly first aid kit to individuals who are overwhelmed abruptly. The paramedics that serve as emergency medical service workers are usually highly skilled and are experts in provision of medical services to affected individuals. Research indicates that these paramedics have recently in the past embraced the utilization of advanced medical technologies brought about as a result of globalization. Such medical professionals are faced with risks due to their nature of job and therefore hindering their service provision to affected individuals.
Statement of the Problem
Over the past decade, the provision of emergency medical services has been faced with difficulties that make the professionals to fail to deliver beyond their expectations. Further research indicates that the safety of the emergency medical professionals is not well looked into because they are faced with many on the job injuries during their day to day service provision to the less fortunate.
Research indicates that there are more than 50,000 health workers who are employed in the emergency medical service department this is according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health(NIOSH) which is regarded as a an institute for research that is found in the centre of disease control and prevention that is the CDC. This institution is given the mandatory to carry out research concerning the problems facing the safety of the health workers including emergency medical service health workers. NIOSH is found to be working hand in hand with the National Center for Infectious Diseases which is also part of the CDC (NIOSH, 1996).
These emergency medical service workers are therefore in a position of facing a number of injuries while carrying out their day to day duties. One of the injuries is the needle stick injuries which involves the exposure of the paramedic to contaminated blood. Research indicates that theses injuries do not come up as a result of exposure to an infectious disease and in case that the paramedics are exposed to an infectious disease it does not lead to the transmission of the infection.
Research Questions
Based on statement of the problem this study research questions will include the following:
- What is Emergency Medical service worker injury?
- What are the main causes of the injuries to the emergency medical service workers?
- What is your understanding towards the aviation industry contributing to these EMS workers injuries
- How is workplace violence regarded as a contributory factor to these injuries
- Do these paramedics face psychological injuries
- How can the management of the emergency medical service organization handle this case of injuries to its employees?
- What is you recommendation for solving these worker related problem in the emergency medical service institution?
Benefits of Conducting the Research
This research will not only benefit the emergency medical service organizations but it will be applicable to all those organizations who wish to attract and retain a motivated workforce that can accomplish stated objectives efficiently. It will provide focus and insight to the management of the emergency medical service organization as well as portraying to the management the importance of ensuring a protected, motivated and satisfied workforce in an organization.
Limitations of the Study
Since this is an exploratory study it will mean that more time will be required to carry out the research in order to find the relevant information that will reflect the issue of worker related injury in the emergency medical services to achieving better results in an organization. Also another limitation is that of availability of funds because the study will require the researcher to reach to a wider population through interviewing many respondents.
Literature Review
Needle Stick Injury
This type of injuries is reported to occur when the emergency medical service worker uses a lot of needles including many other sharp things while carrying their patient care delivery. It is actually stated that once these sharp objects are exposed in any working environment the chances of these workers being exposed to injuries are so high. In many cases we find that this type of injury normally comes up as a result of the emergency medical service worker carrying out the various medical practices such as the transferring of the body fluids between the existing containers, recapping and even improper disposal of the needs and other sharp equipments. Apart from this we also find that this injury is also likely to occur when the worker is cleaning up the devices, the other cause of the needlestick injury is in the case where we find that when sharp devices that are being used in the patients’ body get dislodged accidentally. (Nottingham, 1997)
The needle stick injuries are reported to be the leading factor for the exposure of the emergency medical service workers to pathogens which are regarded to be blood borne these pathogens may include the HIV which is the human immunodeficiency virus, the other type of pathogens is the hepatitis B and C viruses that are commonly involved in the needlestick injuries. studies indicate that most emergency medical health workers who face this type of injury are usually at a high risk of transmitting the HIV virus once they are exposed to a large amount of blood from the patient when the emergency medical service worker is attending to by practicing the placement of a needle in the vein or the artery of the patient or when the paramedic is dressing a deep injury that is oozing a lot of blood. Therefore he is bound to face the risk of injecting himself with the same needle through which his chances of contacting the infections are high (Makeham and Kidd, 2002).
The needlestick injury is found to be carrying a number of effects on the emergency medical service worker whereby one of them is the emotional impact.research conducted indicates that this type of an impact by the needlestick injury is said to be long lasting and very severe on the paramedic, putting in mind that it actually comes up even when there is no infection transmitted on the worker. This emotional impact actually comes up as a result of the HIV virus. this is well explained in the case where a study was carried on twenty health workers who are reported to have been exposed to HIV, among the twenty workers we find that there existed the emotional impact on them where eleven of them were reported to suffering from an acute severe distress, some of them had a moderate distress while others had to quit from their jobs as a result of them being exposed to infectious diseases apart from the workers we also find that their families may also be exposed to such kind emotional disturbance (NIOSH,1996).
Stress and Trauma Injury
According to the research conducted, these injuries are regarded to be very harmful and also no single professional emergency worker desires to cause such events. These injuries are found to be caused by fatigue and stress among the emergency service workers for instance in theatres during operation. It has been noted that the emergency workers that carryout their practices in these theatres are usually tired because of an increase in the number of complications during their delivery of the health care services. Some of them work 24 hours per day thus increasing the injury occurrences on them. Also some of the workers are quite inexperienced in their work which contributes immensely to the occurrences of their injuries. Sometimes these professionals can have work and also family related stress which affects their performance thus causing them not to deliver services adequately and this may lead to serious effects to them, for instance lose of mind or death.
The stress and trauma injury to these EMS workers is normally occasioned by many factors in the workplace. For example poor pay, lack of good motivational structures, lack of available modern facilities and poor management among other issues are major contributors to lack of commitment, injuries and increase in labor turn-over rate within the emergency service organization. Overworking and work stress usually affect human healthy both in social, mental and physical terms. For example people who feel safe in their working environment tend to perform better than those who don’t. Safety can be in the form of human-machine relations and human-human relations. The emergency service personnel working in war thorn countries like Iraq, Somalia and Afghanistan work in fear and this greatly affects their overall performance at work (Makeham and Kidd, 2002).
These factors may actually to these emergency service medical workers to face various psychological disorders such as Anxiety which is regarded as a mental problem that is said to make a person some times to feel anxious with no noticeable cause. Medical practitioners also argue that such a disorder sometimes is accompanied by uncomfortable feelings of which it is difficult to stop such feelings once it occurs. An individual with anxiety disorder may suffer from irregular bouts that are reported to be severe and in many occasions results to frightening and immobilizing the individual diagnosed with it. In many cases we find that the paramedics facing this problem are usually characterized by the following symptoms they are always not capable of relaxing and in some cases they frequently experience sleeping disorders like lacking sleep completely. Medical doctors have proved that these worries by individuals mostly the paramedics suffering from this kind of anxiety disorders usually exhibit physical signs that may comprise of trembling, jerking, headaches, muscle pressures, bad tempers and sweating profusely among other symptoms that make them not to perform their daily duties perfectly (Chopra and Kulhara, 1996).
Ambulance Crash Related Injuries
Research indicates that most ambulances are reported to have a record of high fatality rates in every mile of a distance they cover, this is well indicated in the United States where it stated that in every week there is one report for the ambulance fatality with many injuries reported, it is also indicated that by the end of a year there are more than four thousand crashes that occur in emergency medical service vehicles (Becker, Zaloshnja and Miller 2003).
We also find that most of these injuries are caused by careless and risky high speed driving by the ambulance drivers, apart from the driving we also find that failure to the use of seat belts that exist in the patient department also lead to the worker injury whereby research indicates that these type of crashes are normally faced by these emergency service workers this comes up as a result of the emergency institutions providing the workers with restraint systems such as that lap-belt which in many cases is regarded as one of the factors making the emergency practitioner not carry out his duties perfectly since the belt makes he workers to sit in one position that is he is found pushed on one side of the wall unable to move or adjust his position throughout his travel thus not allowing him to have a full access to the patient and for all these reasons we find that the worker is forced to unbuckle so that he is given the freedom to move around and attend to the patient.
We also find that the worker is force to kneel or stand near the cot this actually is believed to be a factor leading to the exposure of the worker to more risks that is for example if the patient being attended to is suffering from an communicable health problem then definitely the emergency service worker is actually vulnerable to contact the same problem. Accidents are considered as the other leading factor to worker injury in emergency service delivery they are normally caused by poor handling of medical equipments by the workers and also the provision of poor quality equipments by the management to the workers, this indicates that most injuries to these workers may be caused by lack of personal protection by the emergency service institution to its workers (Best and Zivkovic, 1993).
Aviation Crash Related Injuries
Aviation crashes are also regarded as on e of the major factors leading to the cause of injuries to the Emergency Medical Service workers. In many cases we find some injuries caused to these emergency workers are mainly caused by aviation insecurities whereby, critics of security measures in aviation industry points out the weakness of the airliners failure to properly institute security measures on all the aspects of aviation thus ending up causing harm to both the passengers and the emergency service workers. They argue that the security forces only concentrate on the passengers too much thus leaving other areas susceptible to such terrorist’s attacks. For instance, according to report by Congressional Research Service after the 9/11 attack, it reveals that security officials in the airliners have failed in their duties terribly because hardly all the luggage or air cargos are inspected even though the security measures provides for inspection of such cargos. Another weakness pointed out by critics is the ease by which certain individuals particularly workers of the airports find a way through the security checkpoints and get access to secure regions or restricted areas (Makeham and Kidd, 2002).
Further criticism has been focused on the laxity of security officers to curb anti-aircraft missile, Even though most airports through their security personnel has focused much on passenger screening, critics still believe that such efforts are still not enough to cope with the ever growing swiftness of changes in the industry of aviation. Lack of utilizing advanced innovations or high technologies has further propelled the occurrences of such terrorists’ attacks thus leading to injuries to the emergency medical service workers. Research reveals that even though there has been a significant effort in trying to use the high technologies, the pace of such adoption has been cited to be very slow, an event which further makes the airports to be susceptible to such attacks. The practice of pre-screening passengers has not been effective in any way since many passengers sometimes bypass some stages of pre-screening because of the inefficiencies of security officers in the airports and at the end of the day we find that these attacks make the work of the emergency medical service workers complicated where they end up not performing their duties but only to be crashed in the air flights (Felton, 1997).
Therefore to avoid such incidences research conducted reveals that aviation security entails the methods and or techniques normally applied in the general protection of airports, airlines, aircrafts and passengers from any external threats which might disrupt its peaceful operations of the emergency medical service workers. Given the large number of people who use the airports every day, chances are that they present a natural target from all forms of crimes. The advancement in technology whereby aircrafts(air bus) carry a large number of people also pose a high risk of attacks on the aircrafts from groups who want to venture their anger and frustrations concerning a country, culture or religion Airport security has recently tightened due to increased cases of terrorism, drug smuggling and hijacking. These crimes have serious impacts on passengers and the emergency medical service workers. There have been grave concerns from the entire public and focus is shifting on governments to ensure that security at the airports is well taken care of. The most noticeable of the aviation security lapse or concern is the 9/11 attacks on the American airlines which was masterminded by terrorists (U.S. Department of Transportation, 1998).
The other factor that may lead to injuries to these emergency medical service workers in the aviation industry is the Extreme weather conditions in many cases we find that many injuries found on the emergency workers in the aviation industry are stated to be caused by security concerns that are directed to the external attacks such as terrorism and other technical hitches, a certain percentage of these injuries can be attributed to bad weather conditions. Aviation authorities in developed countries have made sure that international standards are met regarding the airlines flying across dangerous zones or during bad weather conditions. Certain issues such as flight path, altitude and heights are addressed fully (NIOSH, 1996).
Workplace Violence Injuries
Violence may be stated as one of the causative agents of injuries to most of emergency medical service worker whereby in most incidences we find that the patients or even the family of the being attended to by the paramedics are found to be hostile and unfriendly. According to NIOSH This kind of Violence is always directed to the paramedics, this violence comes up as a result of the emergence medical service workers when they deny the patients access to particular services or when they attend to the patients without their consent or in many cases we find that the family members of the patient react in a hostile manner when there is involved in a major accident and is being attended to by the emergency medical service worker who is therefore attacked by the member of the patients’ family and he or she be subjected to various injuries, these violence is found t be occurring in different ways which according to NIOSH it include the physical violence is defined as an intentional use of an individuals physical force with an objective of causing injury, harm or death these injuries are usually caused by either using a weapon, hitting or even kicking another person, Psychological violence or commonly known as the emotional violence that include the humiliation of the paramedic, controlling what the EMS worker can do, it may also be practiced by withholding the victims information this act is usually applied to make the victim embarrassed, isolated and denied the right to enjoy his personal rights (AMA,1995).
According to various research studies conducted we find that these workplace violence are especially caused by; the psychological factors which involve that of personality and the characteristics of the stated offender and this may also carry a form of social hypothesis that normally consider the factors that are created externally in the offender’s surroundings, this may include the family structure, stress or even social classifications. This is well explained in the case where a patient was found abusing a nurse and thereafter pulling her hair and the reason for this was that the nurse denied him a chance to go home at night from the hospital. The other example is where a family member whose father was reported to have died when under surgery went to the emergency department of that particular hospital and fired a gun through which he killed a nurse and an emergency medical practitioner who was wounded. According to studies conducted we find that most of this emergency service violence is carried out by the patients and their families who act in a manner of being out of control. (AMA, 1995).
According to the research conducted we find that this work violence in the emergency medical services are basically caused when the EMS worker is working directly with individuals who are volatile and sometimes those whose history indicates that they under influence of substances such as drugs and alcohol, the other causative factor of theses violence is the insecurity surrounding these workers whereby we find that many patients or those individuals being helped are normally armed with weapons such as guns, bombs among others. (OSHA, 1996)
Methodology
Research Design
This study necessitates the researcher to identify the main causes and the solutions to emergency medical service injuries to health care experts and professionals who serve in this sector. The researcher will mainly concentrate on the issue concerning the emergency related injuries and how best it can be solved in order to enhance provision of excellent medical services. Given that this study is an exploratory research it will based on; desired activities and time-based plans, research questions, selection of sources and types of information required, outline of procedures for every research activity to be carried out and also it was based on the framework that specified the relationships among the samples identified for this research purpose.
Sampling Procedure
Before adopting the suitable sampling technique several factors for example; cost of conducting the research, time constraint, accuracy of sources to be utilized, availability of population respondents, physical impossibilities of acquiring all the necessary items in the target population and the destructive nature of certain tests ought to be considered in detail in order to avoid minor mistakes in the course of conducting this research.
Probabilistic type of sampling technique will be chosen since the sample identified gives each and every respondent a known likelihood of being included in the sample selected. For that reason, the research will be conducted using simple random method of collecting data because it will be difficult to reach all the participants in the population. Under this technique, the selected sample gives the person identified the opportunity to have an equal chance of being incorporated in the research work.
Target population
The target sample will be mainly those emergency workers who are involved in day to day operations in this industry. However, some middle level and top paramedics will be considered and given an opportunity too to air their views. A total of fifty respondents in will be identified and questionnaires administered to them. However, the administering of questionnaires as a tool of measurement will be based on the willingness of the respondents to adhere to the instructions thus in the process answer the questions in their best knowledge.
Techniques for Data Collection
Since a sample of the population will be identified the researcher will utilize both open and closed questionnaires to collect the required information from the respondents that will be selected from the sample identified. This method is considered and found to be effective and efficient to the researcher since he will only drop the questionnaires to the respondents and collected them at a later date. The reason for choosing both open and closed questionnaires to be administered is that it will give the respondents an opportunity to answer freely to set of questionnaires that will be administered to them during the study.
Findings
According to the research conducted, these injuries are regarded to be very harmful and also no single professional emergency worker desires to cause such events. These injuries are found to be caused by fatigue and stress among the emergency service workers for instance in theatres during operation. We also find that poor handling of equipments by the workers is also considered as the other leading factor to worker injury in emergency service delivery is that of accidents that are normally caused by poor handling of medical equipments by the workers and also the provision of poor quality equipments by the management to the workers, this indicates that most injuries to these workers may caused lack of personal protection by the emergency service institution to its workers and the best example of such injuries is the ambulance crash related injuries whereby research indicates that these type of crashes are normally faced by these emergency service workers this comes up as a result of the emergency institutions providing the workers with restraint systems such as that lap-belt which in many cases is regarded as one of the factors making the emergency practitioner not carry out his duties perfectly since the belt makes he workers to sit in one position that is he is found pushed on one side of the wall unable to move or adjust his position throughout his travel thus not allowing him to have a full access to the patient and for all these reasons we find that the worker is forced to unbuckle so that he is given the freedom to move around and attend to the patient.we also find that the worker is forced to kneel or stand near the cot this actually is believed to be a factor leading to the exposure of the worker to more risks that is for example if the patient being attended to is suffering from an communicable health problem then definitely the emergency service worker is actually vulnerable to contact the same problem (Makeham and Kidd, 2002).
The other finding from this study is that the provision of low quality equipment which do not give the adequate protection mechanism for the emergency service user is also considered as the other causative factor for the worker injury is. Exposure of employees to respiratory hazards is also a common violation where cases of workers handling chemicals are exposure to irritating mist, nuisance dust, degreasing plating etc. For instance when we take a closer look at the existing OSHA 1910 Standards that is the Subpart I of the 1910 standards we find that it covers the issue of personal protection equipment and to a larger extent the quality of equipment used for this purpose.
The substandard emphasizes the kind of inspection and assessment that must be done to ensure safety in the workplace. This specific substandard has been rated the most violated despite the fact that it is the one that is concerned with safeguarding human life. The standards help and guide companies and businesses to ensure compliance in accordance with federal regulations. These substandard also addresses how accidents negatively affect production levels and results in unnecessary costs in terms of compensations, loss of life, legal liabilities and loss of human resource. From this research we find that OSHA is not aware of any particular type of glove that can prevent all kinds of hand or body hazards and it recommends that a particular glove should be used for a specific hazard threat. This is where many industries violate the standard by using the same kind of glove for protection of all hazards. Fire protection safety measures have been also violated in many instances where fire fighters fight bigger fires with less powerful equipment thereby risking their lives in the process of carrying out their emergency service work (U.S. Department of Transportation, 1998).
The other finding from this study is that in most airline crashes are usually considered as part of the causes of injuries to many paramedics, in this case we find ambulance services are also offered in the aviation industry with an intention of delivering health care to the those people traveling and those who are being taken to other places for further medical service delivery and in this case when this aircrafts are involved in accidents it definitely lead to the injury of the Emergency Medical Service workers in the flight. (NIOSH, 1996)
The other finding from this research is that the psychological disorders that the EMS workers face while carrying out their daily duties in some other instances can be very severe and during such chronic stages it is usually debilitating which results to inability of an individual affected to perform the usual routine practices for example household matters effectively and efficiently. There are also specific signs of these disorders and include extreme anxiety and being anxious that occurs to an individual for a period up to around twenty four weeks. The key symptoms of anxiety and worry which are the main cause of psychological disorders may comprise getting easy exhaustion, restlessness, poor concentration, being temperamental and sleep disorders. Such worries and anxiety causes major stress and may cause bad image in the societal aspect as well as in the work-related environment contexts and other significant parts of operation in an individual’s daily life. We can also deduce that such turbulences caused by psychological disorders are not related however to other psychological causes such as drug abuse or medical conditions that might be related to this kind of anxiety
Recommendations and Conclusion
Management of Needlestick Injuries
There have been different measures that are up to deal with the needlestick injuries on the paramedics in this we find that CDC has come up with different strategic approach which are always implemented to deal with the needlestick injury. One of the approaches is that of the elimination of the use of the use of needles when it is possible, this means that there should be a change on how the administering of drugs and obtaining of specimen from the patients by the application of the advanced technologies that is for example a worker can use the non-needle connectors for the intravenous delivering systems, among these technologies more of the devices such as the shields and the sheaths should be applied (Makeham and Kidd, 2002).
The other way of preventing this needlestick injury is by addressing the working environment which is needle hazardous that is before the worker starts his job he should ensure that all the used equipments are disposed off and the clean and sterilized ones are put in the correct place before starting working, the paramedics should also ensure that the paramedics are well equipped with the information on safety and its improvements.
The other way of avoiding this injury is the general requirements that the paramedics should use appropriate personal protection equipment with reference to the specific kind of emergency problem they are attached to. The emergency service workers should not be exposed to hazards such as harmful substances and equipments that can be absorbed by the skin, severe cuts, chemical burns, harmful temperature extremes, severe abrasions and thermal burns (Felton, 1997).
Personal protective equipment is needed for the head, eyes, hands, respiration systems and feet. This equipment may be protective clothing, respiratory devices, protective shields and barriers must be provided for the employees. This research indicates that this safety measures are usually provided as program which is regarded as a comprehensive program for injury prevention of the needlestick injuries on the emergency medical service workers.
Prevention of Ambulance Crashes
The preventive practices that are present for the ambulance crash related injuries is that the ambulance driver is encouraged to keep a safe speed while carrying out his duty, maintain a distance that is safe from, other vehicles on the road, he or she should maintain the lane through which he is driving, he should also traverse the intersections safely , the other factor that the ambulance driver should consider to avoid such ambulance crash injuries to the emergency medical service workers is to avoid collision with the reckless road users. (Best and Zivkovic, 1993)
The transportation and professional wellbeing matters regarding to the provision of emergency medical services to affected individuals have not been adhered to; for instance, this industry has failed to cope up with the improvement of the health emergency services offered to the affected individuals; particularly the widely viewed lack of taking advantage of the advancements in the automotive safety sector. This is probably owing to ambulance transforming, to joint bodywork from a Cadillac. Such developments therefore make the ambulances prone to road crashes thus putting in danger the lives of both the patients and the emergency medical service workers (Best and Zivkovic, 1993).
Stress Management
To solve this problem of stress and trauma it calls for the entire management of organizations in this case emergency service institution to come up with action plans that will solve such challenges without affecting the productivity of the emergency service delivery, Proper coordination between the work issues and personal life is necessary to balance both.
The anxiety disorder existing on many paramedics can be treated in different ways but it is recommended that the best way is utilization of a method that integrates both cognitive and behavioral involvements and commonly preferred method depends heavily on the harshness of the disorder. Methods of treatment include: Psychotherapy which should be directed to fighting the person’s low intensity, the ever there nervousness and also assisting the affected person to develop improved thoughts guides that will reduce worries and in the process containing anxiety (Goodman, and Jenkins, 1994)
The utilization of relaxation skills can also be applied whereby the affected person that is the EMS worker can receive learning on how to relax and at the same time engage himself in exercises that will achieve relaxation mood which in turn will reduce stress. Counseling is very essential especially EMS workers who have stress or depression related to their work in their lives. In counseling, there is helping of persons that are psychologically healthy to resolve problems or issues that are affecting them. In most cases this takes place on a short term basis. Counseling is a very important aspect in the society today. This is because people such as the emergency medical service workers nowadays go through complex issues that are not easy to solve. These issues come up as result of poor working environments and they can really stress someone. All these issues need a person who has been professionally trained to handle them. (Goodman, and Jenkins, 1994)
The other treatment is that of medication by the doctors by use of some drugs like benzodiazepines that include Lorazepam and Xanax to ease the disorder. However such medicines may have side effects or lead to patients being addictive and thus may cause health problems in the long-term. The other treatment method is that of self help method which implies the paramedic and the EMS organizations he works for try to assist the worker and they should first learn to tolerate and accept the behavior of the paramedic. Such self help method is that of mindfulness which emphasizes on containing stress and a condition known as Yoga (Chopra and Kulhara, 1996).
Family therapy is regarded as the best method used of helping people who suffer from psychological traumas. This is because many dysfunctions such as traumas resulting form work related abuse and other family matters are easily handled by using the paramedics’ family members who produce a number of information such as personal characteristics that may help the counselor in handling the person affected by the disorders. This is a treatment that may be used by many counselors and that they are advised to pertake this therapy with regards to carrying a number of methods used in counseling. One of them is the supportive method of counseling which is applied in the counseling with an objective of relieving pain caused by depression on the emergency medical service worker and also by doing this the paramedic is also allowed to recognize himself as an important worker in the EMS. Most of the disorders make the paramedics face loneliness and discriminated from the workers in the EMS thus such technique is important. cognitive therapy; is another method that can be used to make the patient recognize himself with the social problems he is facing in the society whereby the counselors are put in a position of teaching them on how to recognize minor and major problems that may lead to the occurrence of the psychological disorders (Copeland, 1992).
The other method that can be used to reduce stress among the paramedics is the behavioral therapy; this is a type of counseling that specializes in the creation of changes in the individuals’ personal life whereby the person is always at a risk of being attacked with psychological disorders. This method is found to be working hand in hand with behavioral therapy which brings an establishment of the skills that may be applied in the solving of such problems (Felton, 1997).
Counseling plays a key role in treatment of psychological disorders and patients with such disorders should be subjected to such programs in order to aid them to recover slowly from such attacks which may affect their lives. Counseling programs designed should be well formulated to address all the problems that the patients with such disorders are facing in the society in order to avoid the repeat of the attacks. These counseling services should be made easier in terms of getting access to it for example building counseling centers in all parts of the county. The relevant authorities should also chip in and offer the counseling services for free or at affordable rates to the members of the society (Copeland, 1992).
Airport Security Improvements
Due to ingenuity by the terrorists it is impracticable to precisely forecast the shape that a prospect attack in an airport may happen. For that reason therefore several administrations have laid serious weight on the detection of unsafe items. Bombers and suicidal hijackers, frequently display behavioral prototypes that can result to their uncovering before they arrive at an airline or entering an aircraft. The respective governments therefore ought to carry on in using foremost edge innovations and approaches for screening as well as for airport protection, with the principal reason of noticing destructive intent of attackers and a minor prominence on tracing dangerous objects. It is apparent that the huge bulk of travelers and aviation workers create no danger to aviation security, however, modern do not take the account that reality. To solve this difficulty, for instance, ALPA supports the growth of non invasive human being risk measurement programs all over the world in a bid to enhance security checks in aviation industry (Paul and John, 2001).
From the time when the attacks of 9/11 happened, several constructive transformations have been initiated in order to reinforce the security of aviation industry particularly the use of airport services. However, vital work remains to be done in protecting the airports, passengers and airplanes that these individuals serve. Enhanced procedures and innovations ought to be improved and put into practice for multi divided, faultless dispensation of travelers at safety checkpoints. Air operations in terms of boundary security and terminal structures should be developed to cope with security situations in this current world. For airfields which only provide air freight services, security rules and measures ought to be put into practice at a bare minimum equivalent to the principles that are permitted for airfields offering commercial traveler services. Furthermore, individuals entering the secured regions of the airports for instance those who use the back doors moreover necessitate closer inspection to avoid unnecessary security lapse (U.S. Department of Transportation, 1998).
In this twenty first century there is need for technological advancement. In the aviation industry the criminals particularly the terrorists are very inventive in their illegal practices of attacks. The government and necessary authorities need to use high technology gadgets in order to apprehend such individuals who perpetrate such attacks. To keep the entire aviation industry safe the respective governments and other airlines authorities has to involve the use of the right technological tools. It goes beyond what the media show in the televisions. The sectors that need to use advanced technological advancement. These sectors include aviation sector, communications and also technology can be incorporated in the courts. There is also electronic crime that is quite prevalent in this twenty first century. Unless technology is advance it will not be easy to deal with criminals (Chopra and Kulhara, 1996).
Law enforcement has to include technology. Crime laboratories have to be put in place to detect criminals. It is good for stakeholders in the aviation industry to identify the requirements in technological advancement in the criminal justice sector. To support this technological advancement, intensive research has to be done and the stakeholders equipped with the necessary skills. There should be management development in the aviation sector to deal with this technological advancement. It is always very surprising that terrorists are always far much ahead in technology than the arm of law which in any way should not be the case. The government should encourage and support technological advancement in the criminal justice sector.
Developing technology includes the development of technology guideline that should be followed by practitioners in the aviation sector. In this they are taught how to select and plan the technological advancement in the aviation industry to protect its customers from terrorist attacks. There is the need for the implementation of the technological solutions by these practitioners in the enforcement of the law. This includes the selection of gadgets to detect the commercial explosives that are carried out by the criminals. Criminals normally target the city airports where they can loot money or even carry out bombing (U.S. Department of Transportation, 1998).
Handling of Workplace Violence
It is important that the paramedics are provided with workplace violence prevention policy is put in place and quickly implemented in the emergency services with a goal of guiding every worker in the EMS on the expectations of the employer regarding his or her conduct and other appropriate behavior expectations. This policy can be part of the Workplace Health and Safety Act of 1995 developed by the United Nations or it can be a solo-policy as long as it conforms with other Human Rights policies. (OSHA, 1996)
The policy should be written in such a way that all the paramedics can read and understand very well and ensured that everybody accesses it easily. It should also contain such elements as; the value statement which describes the EMS organizations commitment to eliminate the vice completely, provide a clear definition of workplace violence and the impacts of the same by singling out examples of deviant behavior in the policy. Proper obligations of every paramedic should be clearly spelt out starting with the manager on top to the watchman at the gate so that each individual understands his or her role in the organization and desist from interfering with other people. It must also encourage EMS workers to report all forms of workplace violence and make a commitment to fairly investigate them (Felton, 1997).
Whether the paramedic is experiencing workplace violence for the first time or he has been harassed for a long time it is possible to deal with it individually where the paramedic is expected to come up with a solution himself. The following are guidelines to be followed when the EMS worker is doing this. First is to follow and trust his instincts-nobody becomes uncomfortable without a reason. It is therefore advisable for the paramedic to inform somebody who is close to him about the feelings, which is he should not ignore them. Secondly, it is important to seek external support from either his family or close work mates. It is also advisable for him to study the assistance options available to him and weigh the success probability of each (29 CFR 1910 OSHA)
This can be achieved through extensive consultations and research work. Thirdly, the emergency medical service worker should take care of himself because workplace violence have serious physical and emotional consequences which not only affect his or her job but will also interfere with his or her personal life, family life, relationships and more importantly the health of the individual. Finally, one can either deals with the harasser personally or through the workplace so that a legal complaint is launched (Felton, 1997).
Further Research
From this study we cannot fully deduce that we have discussed all the causes and solutions of emergency medical services injuries and for that reason future research should go on board on identifying many causes and those solutions that are more suitable in curbing such injuries and there recurrences. In addition this research should also be replicated in the future to test the validity and results obtained from the findings that we will arrive at by the end of this research topic.
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