Current Duty Arrangements and Circumstances of Emergency Medical Technicians: Findings of an Electronic Questionnaire Survey Conducted at the 16th National Ambulance-Crew Symposium

To assess the working arrangements and effects on the health of medical emergency transport personnel, we conducted an electronic questionnaire survey among participants of the 16th National Ambulance-Crew Symposium in 2008. Answers were obtained from 58 participants (56 males, 2 females): 58 questionnaires were fully completed and suitable for analysis. Of the 58, 47 respondents were emergency medical technicians (including those with additional roles). In the analysis of the responses, we observed a negative correlation between the number of emergency transport dispatches (in 1 day) and total nap time, and between the number of night emergency transports per shift and quality of sleep. These findings suggested that an increase in the number of emergency transports was associated with a decrease in nap time and sleep quality.