Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-5xszh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T16:59:31.227Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2016

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

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.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Conflicts of interest: none

References

1. United States Census Bureau. National population projections: summary tables. http://www.census.gov/population/projections/data/national/2012/ summarytables.html. Published 2012. Accessed October 21, 2013.Google Scholar
2. Chapman, S, Lindler, V, Kaiser, J, et al. EMS Workforce for the 21st Century: A National Assessment. Washington, DC: Department of Transportation, 2008.Google Scholar
3. Association of American Medical Colleges. Minorities in Medical Education: Facts & Figures 2005. Washington, DC: Association of American Medical Colleges, 2005.Google Scholar
4. Association of American Medical Colleges 2003. Underrepresented in medicine definition. https://www.aamc.org/initiatives/urm/. Accessed October 1, 2013.Google Scholar
5. Smedley, BD, Stith, AY, Nelson, AR. Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care. Washington, DC: Institute of Medicine, The National Academies Press, 2003.Google Scholar
6. Heron, SL, Lovell, EO, Wang, E, Bowman, SH. Promoting diversity in emergency medicine: summary recommendations from the 2008 Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors (CORD) Academic Assembly Diversity Workgroup. Acad Emerg Med. 2009;16(5):450-453.Google Scholar
7. Bowman, SH, Moreno-Walton, L, Ezenkwele, UA, Heron, SL. Diversity in emergency medicine education: expanding the horizon. Acad Emerg Med. 2011;18(Suppl 2):S104-S109.Google Scholar
8. Richardson, LD, Babcock Irvin, C, Tamayo-Sarver, JH. Racial and ethnic disparities in the clinical practice of emergency medicine. Acad Emerg Med. 2003;10(11):1184-1188.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9. Hall, KN, Wakeman, MA, Levy, RC, Khoury, J. Factors associated with career longevity in residency-trained emergency physicians. Ann Emerg Med. 1992;21(3):291-297.Google Scholar
10. Smedley, BD, Butler, AS, Bristow, LR. In the Nation’s Compelling Interest: Ensuring Diversity in the Health Care Workforce. Washington, DC: Institute of Medicine, The National Academies Press, 2004.Google Scholar
11. Nunez-Smith, M, Pilgrim, N, Wynia, M, et al. Race/ethnicity and workplace discrimination: results of a national survey of physicians. J Gen Intern Med. 2009;24(11):1198-1204.Google Scholar
12. Judge, TA, Cable, DL, Boudreau, JW, Bretz, RD. An empirical investigation of the predictors of executive career success. Pers Psychol. 1995;48(3):485-519.Google Scholar
13. Russ-Eft, D, Levine, R, Fernandez, A. Objective career success among paramedics: interaction effects of location and race. Hum Resour Dev Int. 2014;17(1):10-29.Google Scholar