Authors
- . Mehdi Beyramijam 1
- . Hamid Reza Khankeh 2
- . Mehrdad Farrokhi 1
- . Abbas Ebadi 3
- . Gholamreza Masoumi 4
- . Hassan Nouri-Sari 5
1 Health in Emergency and Disaster Research Center, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran
2 Health in Emergency and Disaster Research Center, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran Department of Clinical Science and Education, Karolinska Instituted, Stockholm, Sweden, Europe
3 Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Life Style Institute, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Nursing Faculty, Baqiyatallah University of medical sciences, Tehran, Iran
4 Health in Emergency and Disaster Research Center, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran Emergency Management Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
5 MD National Emergency Medical Organization, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Disasters occur almost everywhere in the world, and preparation is essential.
Preparedness is an effective approach for disaster management, and it is crucial for the health
systems, especially the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) agencies. This systematic review will
be conducted to assess the preparedness levels of EMS agencies in the world for the response to
disasters and explore the key dimensions and strategies to enhance it.
METHODOLOGY: This systematic literature review will be conducted to search comprehensively the
articles published between 2000 and 2019 to explore the disaster preparedness of EMS Agencies. To
this end, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar will be thoroughly assessed. The
following terms and expression will be used for searching the databases: “EMS” and other keywords
“Disaster Preparedness,” “Mass Casualty Incident,” “Mass Gathering,” “Terrorist incident,” “Weapons
of Mass Destruction,” and CBRNE, Disaster, included: ‘Emergency Preparedness, Preparedness,
Readiness.
DISCUSSION: To the best of our knowledge, no systematic review study has been conducted on
disaster preparedness of EMS agencies in the world. This is the first study to address this gape. It
will also explore the key dimensions of disaster preparedness in EMS services and the strategies
to enhance their preparedness.
CONCLUSION: Identifying the key dimensions of disaster preparedness is the first step in designing
valid assessment tools to evaluate disaster preparedness of EMS service. This study will provide
valuable guides for EMS administrators and researchers in an attempt to enhance of preparedness
of EMS systems in disasters.
Keywords
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