Exploration of the health status of experienced New Brunswick paramedics

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Literature reports that paramedics represent an at-risk occupation for the development of health problems. At least half of the paramedic population presents at least one risk factor associated with a negative health condition. These reports may suffer a "mono-method bias" where most reported outcomes are based on a single screening tool approach (may attenuate or inflate the prevalence). OBJECTIVE: The current study characterizes the health status of a cohort of twenty-five experienced New Brunswick (Canadian province) paramedics. METHODS: To understand possible limitations of past research, health status was characterized using four different methods: two methods using only one health measure and two were combined methods, integrating outcomes from at least two health measures to determine the prevalence of a given health status. RESULTS: Mono-bias was observed when using the single health measure methods. The difference among the four methods highlighted that a third of the cohort seemed unaware of their health condition. This result shed additional light on paramedics' health, where a high proportion of paramedics worked without knowledge of their health conditions. Based on a two health measures combined method, it was observed that only two-fifths of the current sample had no health conditions or could otherwise be considered as a "healthy". CONCLUSIONS: Because the literature has focused on single screening methods, our results were difficult to compare. However, there was a consensus that paramedics represent an at-risk occupation comprised of health problems. This study was exploratory and should be the basis for further research.