Perceived Stress and Preparedness in Pediatric Prehospital Care Among Emergency Medical Services Personnel: A Cross-Sectional Study
Ümit Alper Özcan1, Ramiz Yazıcı2, Hüseyin Mutlu3, Medine Akkan Öz4, Uğur Şakar5, Yunus Yatmaz6, Özgür Ömer Yıldız71Department of Pediatric, Bilkent City Hospital, Ankara, Türkiye2Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Health Sciences, Turkey, Kanuni Sultan Süleyman Education And Research Hospital, İstanbul, Türkiye
3Department of Emergency Medicine, Aksaray University Medical School, Aksaray, Türkiye
4Department of Emergency Medicine, Gülhane Training And Research Hospital, Ankara, Türkiye
5Department of Emergency Medicine, Dışkapı Yıldırım Beyazıt Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Ankara, Türkiye
6Department of Emergency Medicine, Yenimahalle Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Türkiye
7Department of Thoracic Surgery, Atatürk Sanatoryum Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Türkiye
INTRODUCTION: Pediatric emergencies are relatively uncommon in prehospital care, but they may cause considerable stress among healthcare providers because of limited exposure, high perceived clinical risk, and age-specific management requirements. This study aimed to evaluate perceived stress during pediatric patient care among prehospital healthcare providers and to examine its relationship with perceived knowledge, clinical self-confidence, pediatric case exposure, and perceived team support.
METHODS: This cross-sectional questionnaire-based study included prehospital healthcare providers working in Ankara Provincial Emergency Medical Services. The online questionnaire was distributed to 312 eligible providers, and 187 participants were analyzed, yielding a response rate of 59.9%. Data were collected using an anonymous questionnaire covering sociodemographic and professional characteristics and five Likert-type subscales. Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. Since subscale scores were not normally distributed, Spearman correlation analysis was used to examine relationships between variables.
RESULTS: The mean perceived stress score was 3.19±1.10, indicating a moderate-to-high level of stress. Overall, 48.1% of participants had high perceived stress scores. Perceived stress was negatively correlated with perceived knowledge, clinical self-confidence, and pediatric case exposure. Team support had the highest mean score among the subscales but was not directly correlated with perceived stress. More than half of the participants reported exposure to only 0–5 pediatric cases during the previous year.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The mean perceived stress score was 3.19±1.10, indicating a moderate-to-high level of stress. Overall, 48.1% of participants had high perceived stress scores. Perceived stress was negatively correlated with perceived knowledge, clinical self-confidence, and pediatric case exposure. Team support had the highest mean score among the subscales but was not directly correlated with perceived stress. More than half of the participants reported exposure to only 0–5 pediatric cases during the previous year.
Keywords: Emergency medical services, pediatrics, psychological stress, self confidence, health personnel, prehospital care.
Manuscript Language: English