Work-related factors, cognitive skills, unsafe behavior and safety incident involvement among emergency medical services crew members: relationships and indirect effects.

Stress and fatigue experienced by healthcare workers can threaten patient safety. This survey of 131 emergency medical services (EMS) crew members identified a relationship between work-related factors (e.g., stress, fatigue), unsafe behavior, and safety incident involvement. Reducing stress and fatigue and improving cognitive skills, including situation awareness, can improve compliance with safe behaviors.