How healthy are ambulance personnel in Central Europe?

The health status of ambulance personnel (AP) has an important impact on the quality of patient care. The aim of this study is to analyze the self-fperceived health of AP. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among Hungarian AP, in which anonymous data (n = 364 subjects) were evaluated by descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Those AP who reported engaging in any amount of exercise experienced better self-rated health (odds ratio [OR]: 1.7 confidence interval [CI] 95% [1.2, 2.7]) and self-rated physical fitness (OR: 2.0 CI 95% [1.2, 2.9]), and reported less limitation in daily activities due to health problems (OR: 2.4 CI 95% [1.4, 4.0]). Those AP who reported feeling more overall stress reported 2.1 times (CI 95% [1.3, 3.2]) worse health and 1.9 (CI 95% [1.2, 2.8]) times worse self-rated physical fitness. Possibly, physical fitness protocols should be implemented and required or advised for all AP.