ARTICLES
Examining Career Success of
Minority and Women Emergency
Medical Technicians (EMTs):
A LEADS Project
Darlene F. Russ-Eft, Philip D. Dickison, Roger Levine
Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) are a critical segment in prehospital medical
care. This study examined EMT-paramedic career success focused on minorities
and women, as part of the Longitudinal Emergency Medical Technician Attributes
and Demographics Study (LEADS). The LEADS data come from a representative
sampling of EMTs throughout the United States. Analyses examined factors
related to objective and subjective career success and did so with samples from
2000 and 2004. Regression results showed that education, experience, and hours
worked predicted objective career success. In contrast, satisfaction with others and
with supervisor predicted subjective career success. Minority status was not
related to either objective or subjective career success, while gender appeared to
have a negative influence on objective career success but was unrelated to subjective
career success. Implications for HRD practitioners and researchers are discussed.
Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) are a critical segment in prehospital
medical care and emergency medical services (EMS). In the United States in
particular, there are at least 17,000 ambulance services, approximately 815,000
EMTs, and more than 122 million annual emergency room visits (American
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, vol. 19, no. 4, Winter 2008 © Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) • DOI: 10.1002/hrdq.1242 281
The authors thank the many National Registered EMT-basics and EMT-paramedics who
have participated in the LEADS project; their efforts will improve prehospital care in the
United States. Furthermore, we want to acknowledge both the National Registry of
Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) and the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) for their support of this work. Nevertheless, the contents of this
manuscript are the responsibility of the authors and not of NREMT or NHTSA.