Stress + Fatigue Flashcards
Personal resilience
There are two types of stress that an individual may experience.
- Chronic stress
A response to persistent, poorly managed pressures usually over a prolonged period of time. Such stress may lead to serious health conditions such as anxiety, insomnia, and high blood pressure.
- Acute stress
A reaction to sudden, unexpected events such as those that may be experienced when working in a dynamic, high-risk environment when commanding an incident. Such stress will involve significant physiological and psychological effects akin to the fight, flight or freeze responses observed in animals.
Causes of Stress
There are a number of significant factors associated with acute stress that may affect the incident commander and members of their teams.
These may include:
- Incident environment
- Uncertainty about situation
- Workload management
- Time pressure
- Fatigue
- Performance anxiety
- New or unusual situations
- Expectations not met
- Missing critical information
- Multipule goals
- Unsuccessful implementation of a plan
Recognising the effects of stress
Typical indicators of stress can be broadly categorised into 4 main areas:
- Behavioural indicators - (change in normal pattern of behaviour can indicate acute stress) - Hyperactivity, irritability, aggression, becoming widthdrawn, apathy.
- Emotional Indicators - (Expressing stress can lead to emotional distress) - Panic,anxiety, fear of situation, fear of failure.
- Physical indicators - (Adrenaline can be released into the body resulting in physical changes) - Increased heart rate, pupil dilation, sweating, dry mouth, trembling.
- Cognitive Indicators - (Manageable amounts may improve performance but in less manageable amounts can be negative) - Disruptive concerntration, narrow focus or tunnel vision, easily distracted, blank mind, impaired decsion making
Impact of stress
Stress may lead to:
- Impaired situational awareness
- Impaired decision making
- Impaired communication
- Impaired performance
- Impaired leadership
Managing stress.
Fire and rescue services should prepare their incident commanders and operational personnel to function under stressful conditions. The following factors help build team resilience to stress: (6)
- Awareness of stress indicators
- Shared knowledge, understanding and expectations
- Team flexibility and adaptation
- Good team communication skills
- Comprehensive knowledge base
- Confidence
Coping with stress during an incident (4)
- Prompt detection, by being able to recognise the indicators of stress in self and in others, will enable corrective action to be taken.
- Standing back and taking stock: for example, if it is safe to do so, taking a moment to stand back and review activities may relieve a feeling of being overwhelmed, which in turn, may help to process the information and facilitate continued functioning.
- Seeking support from others to confirm a perception of a situation is accurate and decisions are sound.
- Requesting reliefs for commanders or staff undertaking tasks or functions, when it has been identified that stress is harming a person’s ability to perform.
Coping with fatigue
Incident commanders should be aware of the effects of fatigue on themselves and others, and ensure people are relieved appropriately. Some effects include: (4)
Behavioural indicators
- Less expressive communication
- Difficulty in expressing self
- Becoming withdrawn
- Reduced communication
- Irritability
Emotional indicators
- Anxiety
- Panic
- Vulnerability due to loss of control
Physical indicators
- Impaired motor skills
- Poor timing
- Failure of co-ordination
Cognitive (thought process) indicators
- Impaired thought processes
- Difficulty in adapting to changes
- Lowered creativity
- Difficulty in making decisions
- Acceptance of lower standards of behaviour
- Overtly distracted by discomfort
- Neglecting tasks
