Explaining the Dimensions of Pre-hospital Emergency Preparedness in the Face of Biological Threats

Document Type : Original Research

Authors

1 Student Research Committee, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

2 Health Management Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Background and Aim: The importance and role of the pre-hospital emergency system as the frontline of treatment in reducing casualties and damage to patients, as well as the unknown nature of some biohazardous factors, should be considered. This study aims to investigate the prepared components of the pre-hospital emergency system in dealing with biological threats.
Methods: This study is a two-stage qualitative research. The first stage used the critical review method, and the second used the guided qualitative content analysis method. The studied population at this stage consisted of 14 people who were experts in the field of biology. Data were collected and analyzed through semi-structured interviews.
Results: After integrating the dimensions and components obtained from the literature review and interviews and based on the opinions of the supervisors and advisors and the summary of the research team, seven dimensions and 23 final components of pre-hospital preparedness in biothreat were extracted and finalized. The study's final findings include seven dimensions of disease warning and diagnosis, information and communication management, management, planning and evaluation, resources and equipment management, documenting and recording experiences, training and practice, and safety and security.
Conclusion: The present study can be a reliable source for evaluating biological exercises and actual biological operations by identifying the components and dimensions required for biological exercise. Planning and implementing activities related to the role of the main elements of preparedness identified in this review can help improve the preparedness of emergency medical service systems in incidents. Also, the findings of this study provide valuable information to EMS educators, EMS managers, and researchers.

Keywords

Journal of Military Medicine
Volume 26, Issue 3 - Serial Number 127
September and October 2024
Pages 2365-2374

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