A survey-based study was conducted among 213 advanced emergency medical technicians (paramedics) to determine if work-related stress and its attendant burnout syndrome could influence the high job dissatisfaction reported by this group. Using Jones' Staff Burnout Scale for Health Professionals, the highest mean burnout score yet reported for any group of health professionals was obtained. of 23 possible correlates of the measure, 18 were associated with burnout. A multiple regression procedure produced a model containing eight independent predictors of burnout. On the whole, the study indicates alarmingly high work-stress burnout among paramedics, which is associated with a rather complex set of correlates. Implications of the study, including job requirement changes for paramedics, are also discussed.
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