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Since the development of the COVID-19 vaccinations, questions surrounding race have been prominent in the literature on vaccine uptake. Early in the vaccine rollout, public health officials were concerned with the relatively lower rates of uptake among certain racial/ethnic minority groups. We suggest that this may also be patterned by racial/ethnic residential segregation, which previous work has demonstrated to be an important factor for both health and access to health care.

In this study, we examine county-level vaccination rates, racial/ethnic composition, and residential segregation across the U.S. We compile data from several sources, including the American Community Survey (ACS) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) measured at the county level.

We find that just looking at the associations between racial/ethnic composition and vaccination rates, both percent Black and percent White are significant and negative, meaning that higher percentages of these groups in a county are associated with lower vaccination rates, whereas the opposite is the case for percent Latino. When we factor in segregation, as measured by the index of dissimilarity, the patterns change somewhat. Dissimilarity itself was not significant in the models across all groups, but when interacted with race/ethnic composition, it moderates the association. For both percent Black and percent White, the interaction with the Black-White dissimilarity index is significant and negative, meaning that it deepens the negative association between composition and the vaccination rate.

The analysis is only limited to county-level measures of racial/ethnic composition and vaccination rates, so we are unable to see at the individual-level who is getting vaccinated.

We find that segregation moderates the association between racial/ethnic composition and vaccination rates, suggesting that local race relations in a county helps contextualize the compositional effects of race/ethnicity.

This study focuses on Emergency Medical Service (EMS) personnel and examines the impact of overdose calls for opioids and attitudes of EMS workers towards individuals with substance use disorders on EMS workers' mental well-being while accounting for self-reported sleep and social support.

This cross-sectional study surveyed EMS workers (N = 608) across Pennsylvania on demographic variables, frequency of overdose calls, attitudes towards opioid use and naloxone administration on measures of mental health. Multiple logistic regression models were estimated to examine the relationship of perception of opioid use and treatment and likelihood that EMS workers might experience depression.

Authors found two main findings: (1) There was a significant relationship between more negative perceptions about opioid use/naloxone and the likelihood that EMS workers might experience depression. (2) There was a significant relationship between number of overdose calls EMS workers responded to and likelihood of depression, which appeared to be alleviated by improvements in sleep and social support.

There is potential opportunity for EMS employers to minimize the impact of the opioid epidemic on EMS worker mental health. Trainings to highlight effectiveness of treatment should be further explored, along with ways to enhance social support and improve sleep for EMS workers to protect against the stress associated with responding to this public health crisis.

This study adds to the literature on the impact of the opioid epidemic as it relates to mental health outcomes for EMS professionals providing frontline care to those experiencing opioid use disorders.

Emergency medical service (EMS) workers are at risk for burnout related to the opioid overdose crisis because they are frequently present during overdose events. The study’s aims were twofold: 1) to determine whether variables related to the opioid crisis were associated with burnout and 2) to explore the relationship between mental health, sleep, substance use, social support, and attitudes about working during the opioid overdose crisis with burnout.

In a cross-sectional web-based study, surveys were distributed by supervisors to EMS workers in Pennsylvania (winter 2018). Participants (n = 214) completed measures on burnout, social support, mental health, substance use, and sleep quality and reported their frequency of naloxone administration and their attitudes about working during the opioid overdose crisis. Bivariate and multivariable analyses were run to determine correlates of burnout.

The sample was 65.4% male, 91.5% white, and 43% were between 36–55 years old. In the regression model (n = 177), depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), sleep, attitudes about working during the opioid crisis, cannabis use, social support, age, hours worked each week, and frequency of naloxone administration were significantly correlated with burnout.

This study contributes to the emergent literature on burnout and EMS professionals during the opioid overdose crisis by finding that attitudes about working during the opioid overdose crisis are correlated with burnout. While the relationship should be explored in future research, the authors believe that interventions to prevent EMS burnout could incorporate training to improve attitudes about supporting individuals during overdose events.