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A Longitudinal Description of Emergency Medical Services Professionals by Race/Ethnicity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2016

Remle P. Crowe ,
Roger Levine ,
Jennifer J. Eggerichs  and
Melissa A. Bentley
Remle P. Crowe*
Affiliation:
National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians, Columbus, Ohio, USA
Roger Levine
Affiliation:
Consultant, Redwood City, California, USA
Jennifer J. Eggerichs
Affiliation:
Division of Epidemiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
Melissa A. Bentley
Affiliation:
Division of Epidemiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
*
Correspondence: Remle P. Crowe, MS, NREMT National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians 6610 Busch Blvd Columbus, Ohio 43229 USA E-mail: rcrowe@nremt.org
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Abstract

Objective

The objective of this paper was to compare demographics, employment variables, satisfaction, and motivation for entering the field of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) between members of under-represented races/ethnicities and members of the majority group.

Methods

A cohort of nationally certified EMS professionals was followed for 10 years through annual surveys; however, race/ethnicity was only available for 9 years (2000-2008). Descriptive statistics and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated and significance was determined by lack of CI overlap.

Results

From 2000 through 2008, the range of proportions of nationally certified EMS professionals by race/ethnicity was as follows: whites: 83.5%-86.0%, Hispanics: 4.2%-5.9%, and African-Americans: 2.5%-4.6%. There were no significant changes in the proportion of minority EMS professionals over the study period. Hispanics and African-Americans combined increased slightly from 6.7% of the population in 2000 to 9.9% in 2008. Likewise, the proportion of all under-represented races/ethnicities increased slightly from 2000 (14.0%) to 2008 (16.5%). Females were under-represented in all years. Nationally certified African-Americans were significantly more likely to be certified at the Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)-Basic level (compared with the EMT-Paramedic level) than whites in all but one survey year. The proportion of Hispanics registered at the EMT-Basic level was significantly higher than whites in three survey years. Accordingly, a larger proportion of whites were nationally registered at the EMT-Paramedic level than both African-Americans and Hispanics. A significantly larger proportion of African-Americans reported working in urban communities (population >25,000) compared with whites for nine of the 10 survey years. Similarly, a significantly larger proportion of Hispanics worked in urban communities compared with whites in 2002 and from 2005 to 2008. For satisfaction measures, there were no consistent differences between races/ethnicities. Among factors for entering EMS, the proportion of whites who reported having a friend or family member in the field was significantly higher than African-Americans in all years and significantly higher than Hispanics in four of the nine years.

Conclusion

The ethnic/racial diversity of the population of nationally certified EMS professionals is not representative of the population served and has not improved over the 2000-2008 period. Similar to other health care professions, Hispanics and African-Americans are under-represented in EMS compared with the US population. This study serves as a baseline to examine under-represented populations in EMS.

CroweRP, LevineR, EggerichsJJ, BentleyMA. A Longitudinal Description of Emergency Medical Services Professionals by Race/Ethnicity. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2016;31(Suppl. 1):s30–s69.

Keywords

Emergency Medical Servicesparamedicprehospital
Type
Research Article
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 31 , Supplement S1: The Longitudinal Emergency Medical Technician Attributes and Demographics Study (LEADS): The First 10 Years and a Look at Public Perception of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) , December 2016 , pp. S30 - S69
Copyright
© World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2016 

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Footnotes

Conflicts of interest: none

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