Background. The emergency medical service (EMS) provides first-line medical care to people who require urgent medical care in emergency and disaster situations. Preparedness is the most effective approach for the management of disaster risks, and it is essential for the emergency medical service (EMS) providers, such as paramedics, emergency medical technicians (EMT), and other EMS personnel. This systematic review will explore evidence on the preparedness of emergency medical service providers in emergency and disaster situations by reviewing peer-reviewed journal articles. Methods/Design. This study will be conducted on peer-reviewed articles published between 2005 and 2019 to explore the preparedness of emergency medical service providers in emergencies and disasters. Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar will be thoroughly searched to identify published studies on emergency and disaster preparedness. The following keywords will be used for searching the databases: “Medical Technician,” “Paramedic,” “Emergency Paramedic,” “Emergency Medicine Technician,” “Emergency Medical Technician,” “Emergency Prehospital Provider,” “Emergency Preparedness,” “Disaster Preparedness,” “Hospital Preparedness,” “Disaster management,” “Disaster Competencies,” “Disaster Readiness,” “Disaster,” “Disaster Role,” “Readiness, Preparedness, Terrorist,” “Mass Casualty Incident,” “Major incidents,” “Mass Casualty,” “Mass Gathering,” “CBRNE,” “Weapons of Mass Destruction,” and “Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive Event.” Discussion. To the best of our knowledge, no comprehensive review study has been conducted on the preparedness of emergency medical service providers in disaster situations. This study is the first attempt to address this gap. It will also explore the key dimensions in disaster preparedness of EMS providers and the strategies to enhance their preparedness. Identifying the key dimensions of disaster preparedness is the first step in designing and developing valid instruments to evaluate EMS provider’s disaster preparedness and as well as adopting appropriate strategies to improve the level of their preparedness (This systematic review is registred in PROSPERO with CRD42020149689).

Background. Work-Family Conflict (WFC) is a form of interrole conflict in which an active participation in occupational activities causes strain and interferes with family roles of workers and vice versa. It is a major source of occupational stress among workers and personnel. Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) are an important part of the healthcare system that respond to emergencies. The EMTs experience high level of job stress, which may affect their ability to perform their family roles, and, on the other hand, actively performing their family responsibilities may interfere with the effective delivery of the already stressful activities at workplace. Objective. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of WFC among Emergency Medical Technicians in Iran and its relationship with time management skills. Methods. This was a descriptive study. In this study, 271 EMTs from the western part of Iran completed the questionnaire for the assessment of WFC. The Carlson Family-Conflict Questionnaire and the “Time Management Behaviors Scale” developed by Macan were used as evaluation instruments. The data were analyzed by SPSS software version 16. Appropriate statistical analysis such as mean and standard deviation, Pearson correlation, and Spearman rank correlation was applied for analyzing the data in SPSS. Results. The majority of the participants reported some degrees of WFC. Statistical analysis showed a significant inverse correlation between total WFC score and total “Time Management Behaviors scale” score (r = −0/381، p<0/0001). In the present study, there was no significant correlation between total WFC score and demographic factors such as educational level, age, sex, marital status, number of family members, need for family member care, and work experience (p>0.05). Conclusions. The findings of this study indicate that time management behaviors and skills can reduce WFC among Emergency Medical Technicians. Therefore, it is recommended that prehospital emergency authorities and policymakers plan and implement measures such as reducing the duration of shift-work schedules, decreasing shift-change restrictions, and organizing regular time management courses. Also, employment of local inhabitants is preferred to geographically distant individuals with similar qualification as this will reduce the distance between home and workplace.

Background and PurposeThe purpose of this research was to evaluate the psychometric properties of hospital preparedness instruments in biological events. The Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurements Instruments (COSMIN) checklist has been used to design the appropriate hospital preparedness instruments in these events.MethodsA systematic search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and ProQuest, Google Scholar for relevant literature until December 31, 2018, and the data were extracted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The quality of the identified studies was assessed per measurement property according to the COSMIN checklist. Twenty studies that met the inclusion criteria were included.ResultsThe result showed that none of the evaluated checklists and instruments included all dimensions required for an appropriate hospital preparedness evaluation. The results revealed that none of the included studies reported adequate information on all the measurement properties of the instruments studied as per the COSMIN criteria.ConclusionsThe information on their measurement properties was lacking. Thus, there was a need for evaluating measurement. However, a vital necessity is felt for developing an instrument with acceptable psychometric properties for measuring hospital preparedness in biological events. The present study provided improved clarity about the quality of currently available hospital preparedness instruments in the biological event and the results of this systematic review could be used to prepare a standardized instrument to evaluate hospital preparedness in biological disaster.

Background. Understanding disaster risk is the first priority for action based on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (SFDRR), and hazard assessment is the first step in the assessment of disaster risks. Therefore, assessing health-oriented hazards is the first measure in disaster risk assessment in the medical universities area in Iran. This article introduces a national experience and results obtained from designing a national tool for defining and assessment of health-oriented hazards in Iran. Methods. In the present study, a National Health-Oriented Hazard Assessment tool (NHHAT) was developed by experts and implemented by the Iranian Ministry of Health for gathering data according to frequency, probability, magnitude, and vulnerability of the hazards to identify the first ten hazards of medical universities in the two decades ago (2000–2021). Finally, the top 20 health-oriented hazards were identified among the ten hazards reported by each university. Results. According to the findings, the four most important hazards were road traffic accidents, earthquakes, drought, and seasonal floods. Nevertheless, the hazards such as desertification, tunnel events, soil liquefaction, mass population movement, and sea progression were among the rarest ones reported in the medical universities in Iran. Conclusion. Many functional aspects of disaster risk management depend on the realistic and accurate information related to the main elements of risk, especially the probable hazards in the communities. The comprehensive hazard assessment can only provide such information using context-bond tools. This is an applied study and a national implementation to fulfill the priority of the Sendai framework (i.e., understanding disasters risk) in Iran. It is suggested that other countries should also compile standard tools to explore the hazards for designing up-to-date hazard maps.