Abstract
The purpose of this quantitative study is to determine if Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training needs to be extended to Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel based on the frequency of calls for service involving persons experiencing a psychological episode, assaults perpetrated by persons experiencing a psychological episode, and restraint use on persons experiencing a psychological episode administered by EMS personnel. Prior mental health training for EMS personnel and agency protocols for addressing violent patients will help determine if there is a need to extend CIT Training to EMS personnel. Additionally, this study will examine if EMS personnel are willing to undergo Crisis Intervention Training and if they believe the training would be beneficial when providing services to patients with psychological disorders. Although no research examines whether there is a need to extend CIT Training to EMS personnel, previous research suggests that mental health training for EMS personnel is effective by improving emergency responses, confidence levels of emergency responders, patient-provider communication, and the safety of patients and emergency responders. Therefore, it is hypothesized that there is a need to extend CIT Training to EMS personnel. Results of this study suggest that 60.2% of EMS personnel were not assaulted on duty, 45.2% came into contact with persons experiencing psychological disorders at low frequencies, and 60.2% restrained patients experiencing a psychological episode at low frequencies, despite their lack of CIT Training. However, 53.8% of EMS personnel reported that they would be willing to complete CIT Training and 85.7% of EMS personnel believe that CIT Training would be a valuable skill set to have when responding to calls for service involving persons experiencing a psychological episode. Surveys were administered face-to-face to Florida certified firefighters, paramedics, and EMTs employed with a central Florida fire agency. The survey was anonymous.