抄録
Background: Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) are exposed to many high-risk factors in the course of their duties that influence their physical and mental health. EMTs seem to exhibit a high incidence of fatigue symptoms as a reaction to the stress of their duties. This study investigates the prevalence of fatigue symptoms among Japanese EMTs and examines the association between work conditions and fatigue symptoms during their routine duties.
Methods: Subjects were 73 male Japanese EMTs employed by the X City Fire Bureau. We administered the Cumulative Fatigue Symptoms Index (CFSI) and a questionnaire to collect information about work conditions. Fatigue symptoms were compared by job class; correlation analyses were performed to investigate the relationship between work conditions and fatigue.
Results: Though EMTs on the same team seemed to have the same work schedule, the results showed differences in fatigue symptoms between team leaders, squadsmen, and drivers. The longer hours spent on dispatch calls for medical transport was negatively correlated with “chronic tiredness” in leaders (r=-0.461, p<0.05), the longer hours of total meal break was negatively correlated with “decreased willingness to work” in both leaders and drivers (former: r=-0.434, latter: r=-0.549; both p<0.05), and that of chores was negatively correlated with “decreased willingness to work” in drivers (r=-0.555, p<0.01). However, napping was not significantly correlated with fatigue symptoms in our study sample.
Conclusion: These results suggest that the long hours of meal break could be important in improving both willingness to work of leaders and drivers and general fatigue of drivers. The longer hours of total meal break may be important to recover from some part of fatigue symptoms in Japanese male EMTs.
