RESUMEN
Background: A national shortage of Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers is a critical issue for the profession that has only worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers have identified possible causes, including difficult workplace conditions, low wages, and burnout. However, the impact of EMS providers' social needs and social risks has yet to be thoroughly explored. Methods: Demographic data for 1,112 EMS providers who responded to the 2021 national Social Needs in the Pre-hospital Setting (SNIPS) Study were analyzed to produce descriptive statistics and test for differences in social needs using chi square tests. Results: EMS providers reported experiencing housing insecurity (23.0%), food insecurity (27.4%), struggles with substance use (20.9%), mental health concerns (41.5%), domestic violence (18.5%), and healthcare affordability concerns (30.8%) during their EMS career. Almost 90% of study participants screened positive for burnout. Both women and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) were more likely than men and paramedics respectively to suffer from food and housing insecurity, mental health issues, and domestic violence at some point in their careers. Discussion: EMS providers reported high levels of burnout as well as a variety of social needs. Social needs may necessitate overtime work, increasing risk of burnout and negatively impacting providers' well-being and contributing to the provider shortage. Barriers to entry for paramedic training and gender differences in promotion rates may exacerbate the disparities experienced by EMTs and female providers, respectively. Conclusion: With high levels of burnout, staffing shortages, and EMS professionals leaving the profession, more must be done to support EMS providers. This includes programs to facilitate entry to and advancement within the EMS profession, ability to make ends meet without reliance on overtime pay, and mental health support.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Family medicine residents are scored via milestones created by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) on various clinical domains, including communication. Communication involves a resident's ability to set an agenda, but this is rarely taught in formal education. Our study aimed to examine the relationship between ACGME Milestone achievement and ability to set a visit agenda, as measured by direct observation (DO) forms. METHODS: We examined biannual (December, June) ACGME scores for family medicine residents at an academic institution from 2015-2020. Using faculty DO scores, we rated residents on six items corresponding to agenda setting. We used Spearman and Pearson correlations and two-sample paired t tests to analyze results. RESULTS: We analyzed a total of 246 ACGME scores and 215 DO forms. For first-year residents, we found significant, positive associations between agenda-setting and the total Milestone score (r[190]=.15, P=.034) in December, and in individual (r[190]=.17, P=.020) and total communication scores (r[186]=.16, P=.031), in June. However, for first-year residents, we found no significant correlations with communication scores in December or in the total milestone scores in June. We found significant progression for consecutive years in both communication milestones (t=-15.06, P<0.001) and agenda setting (t=-12.26, P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: The significant associations found in agenda setting with both ACGME total communication and Milestone scores for first-year residents only, suggests that agenda setting may be fundamental in early resident education.