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- Title
JOB-RELATED EVALUATION OF POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS (JETS).
- Authors
Lateef, Fatimah
- Abstract
Introduction : Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a natural emotional reaction to a deeply shocking and disturbing experience. It is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation. Frontline paramedics may become stress 'casualties' by virtue of their exposure to a variety of traumatic incidents. Objective and Method : A questionnaire survey was administered to paramedics to ascertain their experience with PTSD, its effect on them and how they cope with it. Results : The 166 paramedics surveyed (89 male and 77 female) had a mean age of 28.4 years and had been in this job between 8 to 114 months. 54.2% were single. All of them had experienced some form of PTSD symptoms while 34.4% had faced threats to their lives. 74.1% felt that PTSD affected their work performance for at least several weeks after encountering a job-related traumatic incident. The routine job stressors were acceptable to 86.7% while 9.0% thought it was unacceptable. PTSD symptoms commonly experienced included headaches (60.5%), sleep disturbances (44.0%) and irritability and agitation (39.0%). The common coping skills used were talking to colleagues (69.3%), talking to spouse and family (39.2%) and engaging in sports (21.1%). Conclusion : Paramedics experienced significant PTSD from a variety of job-related traumatic incidents. Debriefing should be automatic for major incidents and readily available on an ad hoc basis for more minor or individual incidents.
- Publication
Singapore Nursing Journal, 2005, Vol 32, Issue 2, p37
- ISSN
0218-2475
- Publication type
Academic Journal