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

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).