Interventions for post-traumatic stress disorder and psychological distress in emergency ambulance personnel: a review of the literature

Emerg Med J. 2003 Jan;20(1):75-8. doi: 10.1136/emj.20.1.75.

Abstract

A literature review was carried out to establish the extent of the literature on interventions for psychological distress and post-traumatic stress disorder in emergency ambulance personnel. A total of 292 articles were identified. Of these, 10 were relevant to this review. The primary intervention used with this population was critical incident stress debriefing, although there was some debate in the literature about the effectiveness of this intervention and the quality of the research conducted. More high quality research is needed on critical incident stress debriefing before being confident of its effectiveness.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Crisis Intervention / methods*
  • Emergency Medical Technicians / psychology*
  • Humans
  • Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / therapy*
  • Stress, Psychological / therapy*