Supporting Those Who Respond: A Pilot Study of Chaplaincy Services and Burnout in Emergency Medical Services

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) clinicians and emergency medical dispatchers (EMD) experience frequent high-acuity events and operational stress, contributing to burnout and attrition. Between September and December 2025, our agency piloted a first-responder chaplaincy (FRC) to provide optional, confidential services to EMS clinicians and EMDs (e.g. check-ins, critical incident debriefing, field response). Our objective was to determine utilization and impact of this pilot on staff wellness and burnout.

This was an anonymous unpaired pre-post electronic survey study of 130 EMS clinicians working at a ground, Midwest academic hospital-affiliated agency site with 32,300 average annual calls and 50 EMDs at an emergency communications center (ECC) with an average annual 140,000 calls. The survey included questions specific to managing stress, chaplain services, and a burnout self-assessment [validated abbreviated 2-question Maslach Burnout Inventory (aMBI)]. Survey items were compared using Wilcoxon rank-sum tests (Likert items) and Chi-square or Fisher’s exact tests (categorical items).

A total of 97 pre- and 83 post-pilot surveys were completed, with 54% and 46% response rates, respectively. Between both surveys, respondents were primarily paramedics (n=73, 41%) and EMDs (n=49, 27%), with >10 years of service (n=78, 43%) and worked full-time (n=143, 79%). Two (2%) respondents indicated pre-pilot use of a hospital-based chaplain, compared to 35 (42%) post-pilot indicating use of the FRC. Post-pilot, staff indicated increased support in processing a difficult call (mean response 2.94 vs. 3.19, p=0.047) and increased accessibility of chaplain services (mean 1.93 vs. 3.25, p<0.001). Respondents reported decreased frequency in burnout from their work (mean 3.21 vs. 2.70, p=0.045); however, reduction in callousness towards people was not observed (mean 3.73 vs. 3.61, p=0.75), resulting in no significant decrease in the overall aMBI (mean 5.94 vs. 5.31, p=0.24).

Our FRC pilot demonstrated good utilization and acceptability and was associated with improvements in perceived support and a single burnout perception item, though validated burnout scores did not significantly change. While limitations include short pilot duration and unpaired survey design, our preliminary findings support chaplaincy as a feasible component of EMS wellness programming.