Disaster Preparedness among Emergency Medical Service Providers: A Systematic Review Protocol

Abstract

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).

CBRNe Training in Virtual Environments: SWOT Analysis & Practical Guidelines

“…When managing a CBRNe situation, four phases will have to be dealt with: threat, preparedness, response and remediation [3]. A key part in being able to deal with such situations effectively is the training of all actors involved, such as first responders, law enforcement agencies, paramedics, or the military [1][2][3][4][5].…”

“…Nevertheless, actors from these different professions might feel more prepared or be more willing and ready to respond to CBRNe incidents if they receive specialized training. For example, a study with paramedics showed that those who recently (i.e., in the prior three years) received CBRNe training were more willing to respond to CBRNe, and that willingness was furthermore positively related to the quality of their training [4]. Willingness and feelings of readiness increased if the paramedic's training involved simulations and hands-on practices [4].…”

Investigating the level of functional preparedness of selected Tehran hospitals in the face of biological events: a focus on COVID-19

“…We must have the necessary response in facilities, decontamination, triage, teams and human resources in the hospital’s operational plan regarding COVID-19 disease (Majd et al , 2020). The World Health Organization’s guidelines on the management of the disease include: identifying reference hospitals (formulating how to refer, accept and coordinate), providing appropriate personal protective equipment by the Ministry of Health's notification protocol, isolation and quarantine of suspected cases and activation of the disease care team in the hospital surveillance system for the disease its distribution in hospitals, will be among the measures of the hospital's readiness in this area (Balduzzi et al , 2020). In comparison to our study, these indicators were only reported in domestic studies in disease management with 71% and risk analysis of hospital preparedness in Asefzadeh et al (2016) with a moderate level.…”

Evaluating the disaster preparedness of emergency medical service agencies in the world: A systematic literature review protocol

“…[ 16 ] have evaluated the disaster preparedness of hospitals in their research areas. However, to our knowledge, except for a systematic review protocol that recently was published to assess the preparedness of EMS providers in emergencies and disasters,[ 19 ] there is no comprehensive study conducted on disaster preparedness of EMS systems through a global lens. This study will address this gap by doing a systematic review of the literature in this area.…”