Prioritization of Determinants influencing preparedness of Iranian Pre-hospital Emergency Services

Unintentional accidents are the second leading cause of mortality in Iran. With the annual rate of 28 thousand deaths, Iran is one of the countries holding the highest accident mortality rate in the world. The aim of the present study was to identify and prioritize parameters affecting pre-hospital emergency preparedness in Iran. The present research is a kind of descriptive study with a comparative and functional approach which was performed cross-sectionally on the first half of 2010. Studied countries in the comparative section included the United Stat of America, England, France, Germany, Malaysia, Italy, Norway, Netherlands, and Canada. The study population consisted of 30 cases of the country pre-hospital emergency experts, selected through available sampling method. Data were collected using a questionnaire and were analyzed by MATLAB, SPSS17 and Visio software and DEMATEL technique. Determinants influential on pre-hospital emergency preparedness of Iran included organization, transportation, communication, accessibility, care model, manpower combination, regulation, and training. Rules and regulations with the coordinates of (1.36 and 2.18), and accessibility with the coordinates of (1.46 and 2.86) were identified as the most affecting and affected components respectively. To develop pre-hospital emergency system in Iran, legislating a professional emergency medical service, developing an independent organization of emergency medical services, as an observer and policy-making organization, and providing services based on one of Anglo's or Franco's models are necessary and highly required principles.