PSYCHIATRIC EMERGENCY SITUATIONS IN THE GERMAN PHYSICIAN BASED PREHOSPITAL EMERGENCY MEDICAL SYSTEM

Objective. In the German physician-based emergency medical system (EMS ) psychiatric emergency situations (PES) rank on third place contradic tory to it's importance during emergency physician training program. T he aim of our study was to examine the relevance of PES and the stress which PES imposes upon EMS physicians. Further, the interest of train ing programs on that issue was determined. Knowledge about PES was inv estigated by a short test. Methods: 952 emergency physicians were sent a questionnaire about following: demographic data, frequency of PES, strain by PES, own knowledge, interest about training programs. Furthe r five typical PES were presented for diagnostic and therapeutic judge ment. Results: 222 responded (183 men/37 women/2 without gender data, average age: 40.1+/-6.7, qualification as emergency physician: 9.6+/-5 .1 years, most frequent subspeciality in-hospital physicians: anaesthe siology 67.5%, in-practice physicians: general medicine 72.1%). PES fr equence was estimated at 9.4%, personal knowledge judged only by 13% a s sufficient, 14.2 felt incapable by PES. 73% saw importance of traini ng, especially expressed by the more experienced (P<0.05). Test presen ted 65% correct diagnoses, 33% correct therapy, 26% incorrect decision of hospital admission. Conclusion: PES are a frequent problem of pre- hospital patient care for emergency physicians. As personal knowledge was estimated to be insufficient, the interest for courses concerning PES issues is high.(210 words).