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Burnout linked to suicidal risk in EMS

Emergency medical services (EMS) professionals: Unpacking anxiety, burnout, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and social support perceptions
Psychological Services · 2026-10-15 · Added 17 October 2026

A cross-sectional survey of 315 EMS professionals found burnout, anxiety and depression each tracked with higher suicidal risk, with elevated scores among respondents outside the male/female binary.

Study type
Cross-sectional
Design
Cross-sectional online survey
Participants
315 EMS professionals
Main finding
Higher scores on anxiety, depression and all burnout domains corresponded with higher suicidal risk on the SBQ-R, with elevated risk among gender-diverse respondents.
Caveat
Cross-sectional self-selected survey — associations only, no causation.
Bottom line
Context only

Why it matters in Australia (High relevance). Ambulance workforce mental health is a cross-service issue, and the burnout–suicidal-risk link speaks to any service's wellbeing programme.

Learning goal

Understand how burnout, anxiety and depression contribute to suicidal risk in the paramedic workforce, including gender-diverse colleagues.

Open in dashboard Read the paper (DOI) PubMed

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