EMSARN Sleep Project

EMSARN Sleep Quality and Fatigue Project

We are now recruiting for the 2012 cohort. Please contact us for more information if your agency is interested in this project.

Latest News on EMS Sleep and Fatigue

04/30/2012

Go to this LINK to read about some recent opinions on sleep and fatigue and shift work in EMS.

Also, visit the ABSTRACT of a study that investigated the association between sleep, fatigue, and errors among police officers. A study that has some similarities to our recent study focused on EMS workers.

Background

The EMS Provider Sleep Quality and Fatigue Project
Recently, fatigue and sleep quality have become issues of significance in the EMS industry.  The visibility of these issues has, in large part, been driven by a precipitous rise in air-medical EMS crashes over time and by strong recommendations from EMS accreditation bodies like Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems (CAMTS) for changing crew shift lengths.

Few studies have evaluated sleep quality and fatigue of the EMS workforce.  A team of investigators led by Dr. Patterson conducted one of the first studies of sleep quality and fatigue in EMS providers.  The results of this study were previously presented at the 2009 annual meeting of the National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP).

In recognition of gaps in research in this area, EMSARN seeks to characterize sleep quality and fatigue in the EMS workforce nationally and report on trends.

The aims of this project include:

1. To characterize sleep quality and fatigue in the EMS workforce nationally.
2. To identify agency and individual characteristics that predict poor sleep quality and fatigue.
3. To provide benchmarking data for comparison purposes.

How We Keep EMS Agencies Informed of their Agency's Sleep and Fatigue

Please visit our EMSARN Data Collection page for details on how and when we collect data for this project.

If your agency would like to participate in this annual project, please contact us