Looking through the bottle: Exploring alcohol use among emergency medical service providers

作为急救系统中一个经常被忽视但又必不可少的组成部分，紧急医疗服务(EMS)提供者在2021年响应了近4900万个紧急医疗服务(EMS)呼叫，他们在不受控制的环境中提供护理时，经常面临传染病的暴露、紧张的工作环境和反复的创伤暴露。因此，EMS提供者经历的几种不良健康影响已被记录在案，包括肥胖、睡眠障碍、肌肉骨骼损伤和精神健康问题。尽管出现了已知的不利健康影响，但研究并未将太多注意力集中在其他众所周知的健康问题上，如饮酒。这种信息的缺乏尤其令人担忧，因为EMS提供者的职业压力很大，可能会有危险的酒精消费。此外，一些已知的不良健康后果与饮酒有关(例如，职业性或意外伤害、身体暴力、睡眠问题、健康不达标、肝病和神经损害)。因此，了解酒精在EMS文化中的作用对于健康和健康计划的发展至关重要。急救服务提供者的作用已变得非常宝贵，最近的大流行突显了这一点，这使得了解酒精使用不仅关系到向公众提供的紧急服务的质量，而且关系到急救服务提供者的健康和安全。这项研究将使用多方法方法，使用全国EMS供应商样本来提供对EMS供应商文化中酒精使用的基本了解。与供应商的访谈将深入了解酒精消费在EMS文化中的作用，促进或缓和酒精滥用的因素，以及以工作场所为重点的政策干预。随机选择的EMS提供者样本将确定酒精使用的基线流行率，提供对社会人口和职业风险因素的横断面评估。未来两年的部分将允许检查酒精使用和行为之间的联系，以及职业、身体和心理健康结果。

An often overlooked yet essential component in the first responder system, emergency medical service (EMS) providers responded to almost 49 million emergency medical service (EMS) calls in 2021, routinely facing infectious disease exposure, intense work environments, and repeated exposure to trauma as they provided care in uncontrolled settings. As a result, several adverse health effects experienced by EMS providers including obesity, sleep disorders, musculoskeletal injuries, and mental health concerns have been documented. Despite the emergence of known adverse health impacts, research has not focused much attention to other well-known health issues such as alcohol use. This dearth of information is particularly concerning given the potential for risky alcohol consumption among EMS providers as a result of their stressful profession. Additionally, several known adverse health outcomes have been associated with alcohol use (e.g. occupational or accidental injuries, physical violence, sleep issues, substandard fitness, liver disease, and neurological impairment). Therefore, understanding the role of alcohol in EMS culture is essential to the development of health and wellness programs. The role of EMS providers has become invaluable, recently highlighted by the pandemic, making understanding alcohol use a priority to not only the quality of emergency services provided to the public but to the health and safety of EMS providers. Using a multi-method approach, this study will use a national sample of EMS providers to provide a foundational understanding of alcohol use within the EMS provider culture. Interviews with providers will provide insight into the role of alcohol consumption in EMS culture, factors which promote or moderate alcohol misuse, and workplace-focused policy interventions. A randomly selected sample of EMS providers will identify baseline prevalence of alcohol use providing a cross-sectional evaluation of sociodemographic and occupational risk factors. A prospective 2-year component will allow for the examination of associations between alcohol use and behaviors, and occupational, physical, and mental health outcomes.