20 April 2009

TWU wants more de-briefs for ambos.

| johnboy
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The Canberra Times has a bare stub on concerns raised by the Transport Workers Union that their ambulance officering members aren’t getting de-briefed after stressful jobs.

    Union ACT official Ben Sweaney said they were receiving increasing numbers of stress-related complaints from officers, many feeling they were not given adequate support after attending distressing call-outs.

Something they should have? Or just part of the job?

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Really how many people actually get in touch with Ambos and firemen and thank them personally, not too many

The Ambos have a very stressful job, and some of the things they do are horrific, eg: dragging out dead bodies from a fire, that once were living human beings, things like that you never forget, it is inprinted in your brain

Bunch of sooks!
Seriously though, my father came out of the London blitz a messed up unit. He was a fireman. No such thing as post traumatic stress syndrome in those days. Lets get with the times so these dudes can get back on with their jobs and have a decent homelife as well.

I hope the TWU has more than just debriefing in mind when it’s looking at the ambos’ needs for support. Critical incident debriefing has had an ascendancy that has been questioned in recent times by a lot of research that shows it can do more harm than good – not in every situation, but enough to demand that management be knowledgeable enough to offer a range of post-incident services which are supported by strong and recent evidence, to meet their staff’s needs.

Agree with both the above. The ambos are human and just because they are paid to do it doesn’t remove the fact that they will experience things that need help to deal with emotionally.

Something they should have? Or just part of the job?

Both in my opinion.

Dealing with stressful situations is part of the job but a part that needs to be addressed after attending an incident that could be described as something most citizens will never have to deal with as a routine part of their employment.

More pay for them and more support services if and when they need them.

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