Disaster management knowledge, education and training among Saudi paramedics a scoping review

Appropriate disaster knowledge, education and training are essential elements for adequate disaster preparedness. This is particularly evident for paramedics who are integral part of frontline disaster response teams. No reviews evaluated the published research on this subject within the Saudi context. The present review aimed to analyze the published studies on Saudi paramedics' knowledge, education and training in the context of disaster management.

The present review was synthesized according 5-stage process: (1) Identification of the research question, (2) Identification of relevant studies, (3) Study selection, (4) Charting the data (5) Collating, summarizing and reporting the results.

Sixteen studies were included in final analysis. The vast majority of included studies (15, 93.8%) were published in last 6 years. The location of the included studies was Riyadh (8, 50.0%), Mecca (3, 19.0%), multiple provinces (3, 19.0%) and other provinces (2, 12.5%). Study design also varied with 9 studies (56.3%) following a descriptive design, 5 studies (31.3%) using mixed methods and 2 studies (12.5%) using a quasi-experimental design. The study sample included paramedics or paramedic students in 13 studies (81.3%) among other healthcare workers while only 3 studies (18.8%) studies were exclusively conducted on paramedic students. Thematic analysis of data extracted form included studies identified three themes: (1) Knowledge/awareness about COVID-19 pandemic preparedness; (2) Knowledge about other disasters and (3) Disaster education and training.

Research output from Saudi Arabia on paramedics' involvement in disaster knowledge, education and training has mostly emerged in the last six years and mainly focused on the two cities of Riyadh and Mecca. There a paucity of interventional and qualitative studies. Also, few studies exclusively included paramedics or paramedical students.