Burnout is one of the most pressing concerns facing EMS teams today. The daily stress of these intensely demanding jobs can build and build to the point where responders are at significantly greater risk of exhaustion and other adverse effects.
Burnout isn’t only a matter of decreased productivity. When an EMT isn’t at their best, it leaves them more likely to become injured during their shifts. An EMS management system provides multiple benefits that can reduce the risk of and extent of burnout in your EMS team.
Automated Scheduling
Burnout can often arise because a responder is simply working too much. If suboptimal scheduling leads to excessive stretches for individual responders, they are likely to become severely tired and less able to cope with the already exhausting nature of their job.
Lack of rest is one of the primary factors contributing to burnout among EMS teams, so careful scheduling ensures that responders do not experience undue stress. Manual scheduling can cause problems in this area. If you’re manually scheduling your team, you may schedule responders who have become overworked.
Automated scheduling with an EMS management system provides reliable scheduling that is less likely to cause burnout. It will eliminate human error so responders aren’t scheduled for longer blocks than they should be.
Even if manual scheduling can come very close, the risks presented by burnout are very severe, and your EMS team cannot afford them. Burnout can lead to injury for your responders and others, as they cannot function at their normal capacity.
Streamlining Administrative Tasks
The nature of EMS work is such that responders are often in very high-stress, high-risk situations. Their jobs consist of responding to emergencies that present substantial risks to themselves and can carry serious psychological ramifications.
This, of course, contributes to burnout. However, a significant portion of what causes burnout is, in fact, mundane and repetitive tasks. As grueling as an emergency response can be, administrative inefficiency can chip away at responders and bring on burnout just as fast.
An EMS management system provides automation for many reports and checklists. It also ensures that the appropriate staff sees reports and issues to address them. Having a more efficient and effective workplace can help prevent burnout by eliminating one aspect of the constant grind that responders face.
Providing Ongoing Education
For any occupation, a major component of burnout is individual and psychological. It is not necessarily the nature of the work but the individual’s perception of themselves and where they fit into the organization that can lead to burnout.
If your responders feel that they are not advancing, they are more likely to suffer from burnout. On the contrary, responders who regularly engage in new training get a greater sense of purpose within the organization and are more likely to stay.
An EMS management system gives complete access to more training materials, providing responders with more opportunities for improvement and development. Being able to move towards these goals can mitigate burnout brought on by stress.
If you would like to hear more about the features offered by our EMS management systems, please contact Sales@ninthbrain.com to schedule a time to speak with us.