PMID- 36928257
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
LR  - 20230428
IS  - 1929-0748 (Print)
IS  - 1929-0748 (Electronic)
IS  - 1929-0748 (Linking)
VI  - 12
DP  - 2023 Mar 16
TI  - Violence Against Paramedics: Protocol for Evaluating 2 Years of Reports Through a 
      Novel, Point-of-Event Reporting Process.
PG  - e37636
LID - 10.2196/37636 [doi]
LID - e37636
AB  - BACKGROUND: Violence against paramedics has been described as a serious public 
      health problem with the potential for significant physical and psychological 
      harm, but the organizational culture within the profession encourages paramedics 
      to consider violence as just "part of the job." Therefore, most incidents of 
      violence are never formally documented. This limits the ability of researchers 
      and policy makers to develop strategies that mitigate the risk and enhance 
      paramedic safety. OBJECTIVE: Following the development and implementation of a 
      novel, point-of-event violence reporting process in February 2021, our objectives 
      are to (1) estimate the prevalence of violence and generate a descriptive profile 
      for incidents of reported violence; (2) identify potentially high-risk service 
      calls based on characteristics of calls that are generally known to the 
      responding paramedics at the point of dispatch; and (3) explore underpinning 
      themes, including intolerance based on gender, race, and sexual orientation, that 
      contribute to incidents of violence. METHODS: Our work is situated in a single 
      paramedic service in Ontario, Canada. Using a convergent parallel mixed methods 
      approach, we will retrospectively review 2 years of quantitative and qualitative 
      data gathered from the External Violence Incident Report (EVIR) system from 
      February 1 2021 through February 28, 2023. The EVIR is a point-of-event reporting 
      mechanism embedded in the electronic patient care record (ePCR) developed through 
      an extensive stakeholder engagement process. When completing an ePCR, paramedics 
      are prompted to file an EVIR if they experienced violence on the call. Our 
      methods include using descriptive statistics to estimate the prevalence of 
      violence and describe the characteristics of reported incidents (Objective 1), 
      logistic regression modeling to identify high-risk service calls (Objective 2), 
      and qualitative content analysis of incident report narratives to identify 
      underpinning themes that contribute to violence (Objective 3). RESULTS: As of 
      January 1, 2023, 377 paramedics-approximately 1 in 5 active-duty paramedics in 
      the service-have filed a total of 975 violence reports. Early analysis suggests 
      40% of reports involved a physical assault on the reporting paramedic. Our team 
      is continuing to collect data with more fulsome analyses beginning in March 2023. 
      Our findings will provide much-needed epidemiological data on the prevalence of 
      violence against paramedics in a single paramedic service, its contributing 
      themes, and potential risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings will contribute to 
      a growing body of literature demonstrating that violence against paramedics is a 
      complex problem that requires a nuanced understanding of its scope, risk factors, 
      and contributing circumstances. Collectively, our research will inform larger, 
      multisite prospective studies already in the planning stage and inform 
      organizational strategies to mitigate the risk of harm from violence. 
      INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/37636.
CI  - (c)Justin Mausz, Elizabeth A Donnelly. Originally published in JMIR Research 
      Protocols (https://www.researchprotocols.org), 16.03.2023.
FAU - Mausz, Justin
AU  - Mausz J
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-6955-5387
AD  - Peel Regional Paramedic Services, Brampton, ON, Canada.
FAU - Donnelly, Elizabeth A
AU  - Donnelly EA
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-9942-3203
AD  - School of Social Work, The University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20230316
PL  - Canada
TA  - JMIR Res Protoc
JT  - JMIR research protocols
JID - 101599504
PMC - PMC10131719
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - abuse
OT  - emergency
OT  - emergency medical services
OT  - epidemiological
OT  - epidemiology
OT  - harm
OT  - implementation
OT  - mixed methods
OT  - occupational health
OT  - paramedic
OT  - point-of-event: development
OT  - reporting
OT  - safety
OT  - violence
OT  - work
OT  - workplace violence
COIS- Conflicts of Interest: JM is employed as an advanced care paramedic and 
      researcher by the Peel Regional Paramedic Services.
EDAT- 2023/03/18 06:00
MHDA- 2023/03/18 06:01
PMCR- 2023/03/16
CRDT- 2023/03/17 08:59
PHST- 2022/02/28 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2022/12/09 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2022/12/05 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2023/03/17 08:59 [entrez]
PHST- 2023/03/18 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2023/03/18 06:01 [medline]
PHST- 2023/03/16 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - v12i1e37636 [pii]
AID - 10.2196/37636 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - JMIR Res Protoc. 2023 Mar 16;12:e37636. doi: 10.2196/37636.