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Occupational stress occurs in a variety of forms, types, and situations. Arguably, a certain level of stress can encourage productivity, ingenuity, and satisfaction. As occupational stress escalates, however, people’s capacity to deal with it diminishes, eventually compromising work performance and provoking people to express negative emotions. These negative aspects of stress are buffered to a certain extent by individual differences such as personality as well as external contextual factors such as the working environment. This chapter reports a study applying an affective events theory (AET) as a framework to investigate perceived stress in response to negative events in emergency services’ workplaces and the potential buffering effects of servant leadership, affective team climate, and psychological capital. An experience sampling methodology (ESM) was used to record daily cases of self-reported negative events experienced by participants over the three week data-collection period. A structured survey questionnaire independent of the ESM was also used to collect data from 44 emergency service operation members. The findings indicate that servant leadership behavior, affective team climate, and individual psychological capital all are significantly related to reduced perceived occupational stress in emergency service team members.

The purpose of this study/paper is to identify the importance of the partnership between the public and private health-care institutions to improve interhospital patient transfers. Scientific research and statistical data show the increased number of interhospital transportation services; therefore, timely and qualified patient transportation between different health-care institutions must be considered, the activity that directly and significantly impacts the patient’s health status and overall quality of the health-care services. The successful patient transportation from the smaller hospitals to the health-care institutions with advanced intensive care or urgent care units can be enhanced through the partnership between private and public health-care institutions.

The methodology included quantitative method, statistical data analysis and theoretical data generalization. Both primary and secondary data were collected and analyzed during the research. Expert quantification was performed using the survey research method. The survey was conducted in Lithuania. The respondents were selected to be the general managers of the health-care and urgent care institutions, the chief doctors of the reanimation and intensive care department also the chief doctors of the emergency department.

Because of the centralization and regionalization of health-care services, the number of patients transferred between hospitals by the emergency medical services (EMS) and personal health-care institutions has increased. University hospitals are not sufficiently prepared to accept an increasing flow of patients in accordance with the Ministry of Health orders. Not all regional or district hospitals have the right to provide such assistance, which increases transportation time and costs as well as requires additional human resources. The five EMS categories could be used to improve the patient transfer between different levels of health-care institutions. To increase partnership between private and public health-care organizations, incentives should be provided for the development of private health-care organizations, as well as encouraging actions should be taken to increase the demand for private health-care services by Lithuanian patients.

Five EMS categories identified in this paper could be used to ensure a smooth mechanism for the patient transfer between different levels of the personal health-care institutions. The proposed categories should also be used in the pre-stationary emergency phase (for reducing the interhospital patient transportation amount).

Properly organized secondary and tertiary interhospital patient transfers influence the availability and quality of the EMS and reduce inequalities in the provided services and social exclusion.

This paper presents the classification of the interhospital transfer issues, determines the main reasons for the patient interhospital transfer, creates the model for the EMS patient process flows and defines five EMS categories for the assessment of patient conditions. Therefore, the research conducted and the results obtained have both theoretical and social-practical value.

The lack of studies about the response time of emergency medical service during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in a dense city of a developing country has triggered this study to explore the factors contributing to a high response time of ambulance service to reach patients in need. An evaluation of contributing factors to the response time is necessary to guide decision-makers in keeping a high service level of emergency medical service.

This research employed an agent-based modeling approach with input parameters from interviews with emergency medical service staff in Bandung city, Indonesia. The agent-based model is established to evaluate the relevant contribution of the factors to response time reduction using several scenarios.

According to agent-based simulation, four factors contribute to the response time: the process of preparing crew and ambulance during the pandemic, coverage area, traffic density and crew responsiveness. Among these factors, the preparation process during the pandemic and coverage area significantly contributed to the response time, while the traffic density and crew responsiveness were less significant. The preparation process is closely related to the safety procedure in handling patients during the COVID-19 pandemic and normal time. The recommended coverage area for maintaining a low response time is 5 km, equivalent to six local subdistricts.

This study has explored the factors contributing to emergency medical response time. The insignificant contribution of the traffic density showed that citizens, in general, have high awareness and compliance to traffic priority regulation, so crew responsiveness in handling ambulances is an irrelevant factor. This study might have different contributing factors for less dense population areas and focuses on public emergency medical services provided by the local government.

The local government must provide additional funding to cover additional investment for ambulance, crew and administration for the new emergency service deployment point. Exercising an efficient process in ambulance and crew preparation is mandatory for each emergency deployment point.

This study evaluates the contributing factors of emergency medical response time in the pandemic and normal situation by qualitative analysis and agent-based simulation. The performance comparison in terms of medical response time before and after COVID-19 through agent-based simulation is valuable for decision-makers to reduce the impact of COVID-19.

The research is an administrative case study based on an extensive review of Hawaii government documents and interviews with key personnel of the Hawaii Emergency Preparedness Committee, civil defense and other relevant officials. Describes the interagency coordination at the federal, state, county, and community level to improve capability. Also described and critically evaluated are the roles of interagency emergency preparedness training, disaster drills, and coordination and partnership with the private sector, such as medical centers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s designated “disaster resistant communities” in Maui and Hawaii County. Recommends that more frequent interagency drills, increased funding for family emergency preparedness and local community response teams, and continuous training by emergency response coordinators could improve state and county disaster preparedness and concludes that, overall, Hawaii is adequately prepared in emergency response capability, particularly in the areas of medical services and interagency coordination.

This paper relays the process the authors used to develop a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework in the emergency services team at Australian Red Cross. The paper aims to provide useful information and guidance to support others to build and improve their M&E frameworks, which are fundamental for guiding achievement of department or organisational goals.

This paper uses a case study to describe the participatory agile methodology applied to develop the framework. The completed framework includes indicators mined from pre-existing literature and highlights the benefits of using an agile and participatory approach to cultivate user buy-in, enhance operational relevance and create timely results.

Development of the M&E framework streamlined measurement across the team, improved programmatic strategic alignment, identified gaps in data collection and promoted utilisation of evaluative information. Additionally, it was an exercise in evaluation capacity building, with many process uses, which positively influenced the implementation stage.

There are very few scholarly papers that outline the process taken to develop M&E frameworks, and none in the humanitarian, emergency services field. Additionally, this paper offers an innovative use of agile in facilitating a collaborative, sustainable and meaningful framework.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is developing and supporting various strategies for emergency bioterrorism preparedness and response. To assist response teams, an informationist participated in preparedness teamwork and developed an electronic reference library with books, journal articles, and CDC documents. This laptop reference library was structured to be completely autonomous but also updatable. The library was tested during an FEMA emergency response exercise that included the informationist librarian. The majority of response team members agreed that both the reference library and librarian were valuable during an emergency response. The exercise emphasized the response team’s need for information and a librarian to find the right information at the right time.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the Republic of Ireland’s National Emergency Coordinating Group performed with respect to ensuring access to emergency information for deaf sign language (SL) users over the course of two emergency situations in 2017 and 2018 as a result of storms. The storms book-ended parliamentary and public debate around the recognition of the indigenous SL of Ireland, Irish Sign Language (ISL). The author explores if/how increased political awareness led to better access in 2018, and how access provision maps to best practice guidelines set out by the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters (WASLI) and the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD).

This paper provides empirical insights about the asymmetrical effort that is required of a minority linguistic community, in this instance, community of deaf ISL users and their allies, to secure provision of access to emergency information that is provided as a matter of course to the wider community of hearing English language speakers. The author draws on parliamentary records, social media and print media to document the political, societal and deaf community discourse around ISL recognition and the emergencies.

The author finds that significant effort was required of deaf people and their allies to secure access to national emergency briefings in 2017, with significant improvement evidenced in 2018 for Storm Emma and the Beast from the East, in the aftermath of the adoption of the ISL Act (December 2017). The author drew on the theory of effortful engaging, which posits that unless we have greater awareness of and pro forma consideration of SLs and deaf people, the burden of work required to ensure appropriate access and participation falls on deaf people.

There is scope for completing a 360° analysis of stakeholders engaged in the process. Further work should also include interviews with deaf community members and emergency response coordinators.

This paper identifies implications for emergency coordinating groups: provision of appropriate interpreting must be a pro forma element in the planning for delivery of any emergency information. Broadcasters must be required to ensure that interpreters are visible on screen at all times during live briefings: what is unseen is “unheard” for SL users. Work remains to ensure that deaf people have access to preparatory information in their language, and that they have ease of access to two-way emergency services. Emergency coordinating teams need to integrate the UNCRPD-mapped WASLI-WFD recommendations into their emergency strategy.

Communities depend on information for their survival in times of crisis. Communication requires comprehension and interaction. For SL users, information in an indigenous SL is a lifeline in a time of crisis. This requires emergency response teams to understand that “language” is multi-modal and embed strategies for engaging with deaf communities in all aspects of their processes, with guidance from deaf community leaders and advocates. There is also a need to consider deafblind people and deaf people who have disabilities, who are more vulnerable in crisis situations.

This is the first analysis of state provision of access to information for the Irish deaf community in an emergency setting. It is one of very few empirical analyses of how deaf communities fare in emergency contexts and the first to evaluate a state’s practice vis-à-vis UNCRPD-led guidelines on best practice issued by the WASLI/WFD. The socio-political context described represents a unique period where the Irish deaf community and ISL were central to political and media discourse because of the ISL Act and the death of two deaf brothers in tragic circumstances in Autumn 2017.

Telecare services have evolved from community alarm systems into sophisticated methods of supporting the health and well‐being of many vulnerable groups. Their potential for extending this role may be supported by the integration of services involving all telecare alarm services, primary care services and community equipment stores. The key to integration may be the expanded role of the 24‐hour monitoring centres to provide case review facilities that allow prevention services to be offered following an emergency, as well as the issuing of standalone telecare devices. The potential for successful integration may be governed by the level of training provided for call handling staff, and by the creation of specialist centres using virtualisation technologies.

The 11 September tragedy in the USA has provided a wake up call to remind businesses of the need for adequate disaster recovery and business continuity planning. A business continuity plan must be comprehensive and up to date. This paper outlines the key content of such a plan and the issues to be addressed in drawing one up to ensure it meets real business recovery needs. Continues the plan through to the actions needed to handle an actual emergency.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the need and resources firefighters have to deal with death and dying (D&D) that they encounter whilst on duty and to present a curriculum to support D&D issues for firefighters.

A qualitative methodology involving focus groups was conducted in two fire stations in Spain. The sample was 38 male participants with a mean age of 46 y/o (range: 30-59 years) and an average tenure of employment of 18 years (range: 6-35 years). Data were subjected to a thematic analysis. Dual coding of the transcripts in addition to member checking enhanced analysis.

Nine themes emerged: witnessing D&D during rescue operations; memories about D&D and trauma; impact on firefighter’s families; decision-making process under stress; teamwork: protective and self-support; inadequate D&D preparation and training; adequate technical and physical training preparation; relationship between equipment, legal-moral obligation, and victims’ outcomes; communication issues: toward the victim and/or their relatives. These themes were subsequently framed into three basic domains: personal impact of D&D, team impact of D&D, and victim impact. Each domain, in its turn, is covered by three curriculum topics. The curriculum’s pedagogy is primarily based on experimental-reflective activities during 16 study-hours.

The absence of female participants. All fire stations were in cities with no more than 150,000 inhabitants.

Individuals who take this curriculum will: increase their ability for self-care and resilience; improve teamwork, leadership skills, and to decrease burnout; provide more effective care for victims; provide skills to cope with compassion fatigue; reduced the levels of post-traumatic stress disorders.

Understanding firefighters’ needs with relation to D&D, and assessing the resources available to mitigate these issues will provide a comprehensive approach to their education and promote health both personally and professionally. A comparable curriculum or proposal has not been previously identified.