Prioritizing Pre-hospital Emergency Risks and Preparedness According to the Health Response Program in Rasht, Iran in 2019

Hazards have always been considered a threat to human life and preparedness to deal with risks for pre-hospital emergency as the first line of care and treatment is highly significant. Pre-hospital emergency (clinical) deals with different natural and man-made hazards which cause various harms. Preservation of disaster preparedness is one of the pre-hospital emergency concerns. In this regard.

The present study aimed to determine the priority of hazards and design preparedness programs based on health response.

The present study was based on a descriptive-analytical study that was conducted in Rasht, Iran in 2019. The method used in this study was a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. In a qualitative method, the major threats and potential hazards of pre-hospital emergency were identified by reviewing the texts and searching for relevant articles. Afterward, its effectiveness and the significance of its risk or threat were evaluated using a researcher-made checklist. In total, 19 crisis liaisons from the organizations involved in crisis management in Rasht were questioned, 18 of whom responded to the checklist.

The results obtained from the opinions of the experts showed that the risk of earthquakes (88.8%) and seasonal flood (83.3%),among all the risks investigated, have a higher priority than traffic accidents (77.7%) and heavy snowfall (72.2%) in the society. The pre-hospital emergency is closely related to many various risks, among which the earthquake risk was chosen as the priority by the community of experts participating in this research. For the emergency of the earthquake, preparedness plans were produced based on the response plan of the health sector and the additional comments of the expert community.

Identification of high-priority risks and design of appropriate response plans will help those in charge to face and prepare in time and reduce damages.