Introduction: Emergency medicine concentrates especially on providing urgent and immediate medical care and attention. Due to the unpredictability of the accidents, the urgent medical attention has to be provided 24 hours a day. However, the shift work involves various negative consequences on the employed. Purpose: This degree thesis presents the risk factors that may affect the development of the cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore, the work explores the extent to which the emergency medical technicians working on the field are exposed to the above mentioned factors. In addition, the thesis examines the amount of the paramedics with already known cardiovascular diseases who are employed at the emergency medical services both in Ljubljana and Kranj. Methods: The thesis consists of a theoretical and an empirical part. The subjects included in the research have been the emergency medical technicians and medical dispatchers employed at the emergency medical services in Ljubljana and Kranj. Databases PUBMED, MEDLINE, CINAHL and SCIENCE DIRECT have provided the secondary sources to the present work. Eighteen relevant and original medical articles have been studied and used for the research. The second part of the degree thesis has been based on the quantitative study, in which the data has been gained via a specially designed questionnaire. While 134 employed were asked to fulfill the questionnaire, only 78 subjects appropriately concluded the survey. Prior to the initial study, a pilot study has been conducted. Finally, the quantitative data has been analysed in the statistical programme SPSS. Results: Most subjects do not report on cardiovascular diseases. Nevertheless, five subjects had a pre-existing arterial hypertension, four of them were treated for this medical condition. Discussion and conclusion: Results indicate that stress and the level of education are not strongly correlated. Moreover, according to the research the emergency medical technicians with a reported higher level of stress do not resort to drinking alcohol. In addition, the stress values among the subjects were relatively low. Nevertheless, the research finds a strong correlation between obesity in the employed and insomnia. In conclusion, more attention is to be paid to the employed's mental and physical health. Preventive measures may contribute to a considerable decrease in the development of cardiovascular and all other diseases.
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