What paramedics think about when they think about fatigue: contributing factors.
OBJECTIVE
Paramedic fatigue is associated with burnout, attrition, sick leave, work disability, physical and mental health complaints and impaired performance. However, no studies have addressed how fatigue is understood by paramedics. The present study addresses this shortcoming by exploring factors paramedics recognise as contributors to fatigue.


METHODS
Forty-nine (12F; 38 years ± 9.7 years) Australian paramedics completed a survey on perceived causes of performance impairing fatigue. A total of 107 responses were systematically coded following principles common to qualitative data analysis: data immersion, coding, categorisation and theme generation.


RESULTS
Six themes emerged: working time, sleep, workload, health and well-being, work-life balance and environment. Consistent with a scientific understanding of fatigue, prior sleep and wake, time of day and task-related factors were often identified as contributing to fatigue. In other cases, paramedics' attributions deviated from a scientific understanding of direct causes of fatigue.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings demonstrate that paramedics have a broad understanding of fatigue. It is critical to take this into account when discussing fatigue with paramedics, particularly in the case of fatigue education or wellness programmes. These data highlight areas for intervention and education to minimise the experience of paramedic fatigue and the negative health and safety outcomes for paramedics and patients as a result.
Appleton Institute, Central Queensland University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
Jessica L
JL
Paterson
Sarah
S
Sofianopoulos
Brett
B
Williams
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001315:Australia; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004634:Emergency Medical Technicians; D005221:Fatigue / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012890:Sleep; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016526:Workload
fatigue; shift work; sleep; work hour; workload