How Emergency Workers Deal with Stress

Because of working in a stressful environment, we must make a conscious effort to prevent as well as reduce unnecessary stress. In class we learn to do this in several different ways.

First we learn to recognize the signs and symptoms of stress. Then we learn how to adjust our lifestyles including activities that are not only stress-free but reduce the already added stress in our lives.

As a State Correctional Officer we are also First Responders to emergencies. We take several classes yearly to help us to understand how stress can not only affect us, but the people in which we provide emergency medical services.

One of the most intense types of stress that people can experience is death/dying, because of this the grief reaction provides basis for looking at stress. Everyone that has had involvement with death or a dying patient goes through this grieving process in their own ways.

This grieving process has been categorized into five well recognized stages. These five stages are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Even though this process is ordered doesn't mean that everyone begins the five stages in stage one. Remember that all these stages are normal and expected.

Denial is stage one, we call it the not me stage. People experiencing denial cannot believe what has happening. This stage also serves as a protection for the person and us as the caregiver.

Stage two is anger, also known as the why me stage. Because we understand that anger is a normal reaction to this stress, it helps us to deal with the grieving family when they turn their anger towards us. It is very important to talk things through with friends or family because this stage can be trying for everyone.

The next stage in the grieving process is bargaining. Where more often than not people say okay, but... , and try to make a deal so to speak. When we encounter patients in this stage we are taught to respond truthfully and offer helpful comments like "We are doing everything we can, and the paramedics will be in about five to seven minutes".

The fourth stage is depression, and characterized by sadness or despair. People that are unusually silent or retreat into his or her own world are probably in this stage. Usually this also means that they are beginning to accept the situation. We as rescuers are people too, and often get depressed as well. With any luck this stage will be mild and of short duration.

Finally, stage five is the acceptance stage. This stage is often confused as being satisfied with the situation. This is far from the truth, all it means is it is understood the situation cannot be changed. As a medical caregiver we often see this stage a little sooner when the family has been dealing with a terminally ill family member.

Now that we've talked about stress and identified the five stages, lets talk about stress management in which there are three components. The three components are recognizing stress, preventing stress, and finally reducing stress. Sometimes the reduction of stress can be easier said than done.

It is very important in stress management to recognize its signs and symptoms. There are approximately eleven signs and symptoms in helping you recognize stress.

These warning signs should help: irritability, inability to concentrate, change in normal disposition, difficulty in sleeping even nightmares, anxiety, indecisiveness, guilt, loss of appetite, loss of interest in sexual relations, loss of interest in work, and isolation.

Next is preventing stress, again sometimes easier said than done. There are three techniques you can follow to help in preventing stress. One is eating right. A healthy well balanced diet helps prevent and reduce stress. In these particular types of line of duty it can be quite difficult to keep a well balanced diet.

The second technique is drinking, keeping an adequate amount of fluids is very important. Dehydration is a special risk for law enforcement officers, firefighters, and EMS providers who wear hot bunker gear or ballistic vests.

The third technique to preventing stress is being happy. It's important to balance your lifestyle, and let's face it a happy person isn't suffering from elevated stress. Exercise and healthy hobbies also helps to keep your happiness levels up.

Finally, the third and last step in managing stress is learning how to reduce your stress. We do this through our CISDs (critical incident stress debriefings). We use them to alleviate the stress reactions caused by emergency situations.