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

نویسندگان

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 Emergency Management Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

3 MD National Emergency Medical Organization, Tehran, Iran

4 Health in Emergency and Disaster Research Center, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran

5 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

6 Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Life Style Institute, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Nursing Faculty, Baqiyatallah University of medical sciences, Tehran, Iran

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چکیده

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 healthsystems, especially the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) agencies. This systematic review willbe conducted to assess the preparedness levels of EMS agencies in the world for the response todisasters and explore the key dimensions and strategies to enhance it.METHODOLOGY: This systematic literature review will be conducted to search comprehensively thearticles published between 2000 and 2019 to explore the disaster preparedness of EMS Agencies. Tothis end, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar will be thoroughly assessed. Thefollowing terms and expression will be used for searching the databases: “EMS” and other keywords“Disaster Preparedness,” “Mass Casualty Incident,” “Mass Gathering,” “Terrorist incident,” “Weaponsof Mass Destruction,” and CBRNE, Disaster, included: ‘Emergency Preparedness, Preparedness,Readiness.DISCUSSION: To the best of our knowledge, no systematic review study has been conducted ondisaster preparedness of EMS agencies in the world. This is the first study to address this gape. Itwill also explore the key dimensions of disaster preparedness in EMS services and the strategiesto enhance their preparedness.CONCLUSION: Identifying the key dimensions of disaster preparedness is the first step in designingvalid assessment tools to evaluate disaster preparedness of EMS service. This study will providevaluable guides for EMS administrators and researchers in an attempt to enhance of preparednessof EMS systems in disasters.