Someone just messaged me to say that a speaker at PACE 2024 claimed that we only have anecdotal evidence of violence against paramedics in Canada. Well…that’s simply not true!
I’m a member of the Violence in Paramedicine Research Group led by Dr. Justin Mausz, Ph.D. and Prof. Elizabeth A. Donnelly. Since 2019 we have been steadily researching this area. See www.protectparamedics.com for access to all of our studies. Highlights of our research findings include:
- We developed a novel, point-of-event reporting process developed in partnership with InterDev Technologies that is attached directly to the Electronic Patient Care Report (ePCR) to track incidents of violence perpetrated against paramedics.
- We explored how the organizational culture within paramedicine normalizes exposure to workplace violence.
- We outlined a mixed methods program of research into the prevalence of violence against paramedics, its contributing circumstances, characteristics, and risk factors.
- We demonstrated that nearly half of the active-duty paramedic workforce in Peel Region experienced violence during the study period. For the first time, we have granular, event-level data on just how commonly paramedics are subjected to violence in the course of their duties.
- We surveyed paramedics about their experiences with a new reporting process and their willingness to report violence.
- We identified that nearly 1 in 4 paramedics documented some form of abuse targeting protected identity grounds. Abuse on protected identity grounds was associated with a 60% increase in the risk of emotional distress among paramedics.
- We evaluated a hazard flagging program in Peel Region after more than a year of violence reports and found that more serious assaults were less likely to occur at locations that could be flagged under policy, and that calls at flagged addresses were associated with an increased risk of subsequent violence reports being filed.
And we’re doing even more!
Our research was cited in the introduction of Bill C-321 – a private member’s bill tabled by MP Todd Doherty to amend the Criminal Code of Canada with respect to assaults on healthcare professionals and first responders. If passed, the bill will require judges to consider the fact that the victim of an assault (or a related offense) is a person who provides health care services or a first responder as an aggravating circumstance during sentencing.
Dr. Justin Mausz and Dr. Elizabeth Donnelly testified in support of the bill when it was studied in the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights in the House of Commons. Dr. Mausz also published a commentary on the role of legislation in responding to violence against healthcare professionals and first responders in the Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine, and a recent commentary on a qualitative exploration of violence against paramedics published in Paramedicine