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Workforce & wellbeing
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.
More
- Topic: Workforce & wellbeing
- Daily scan: 17 October 2026
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