Emergency Medical Services Challenges Regarding Resource Capacity and Competency during COVID-19 Pandemic

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the availability of resources, personal protective equipment PPE) and beliefs amongst Emergency Medical Services (EMS) professionals in Makkah city. Also, we aimed to assess various aspects of how Emergency Medical Services are handling the COVID-19 pandemic via online self-administrated questionnaire.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was conducted on a convenience sample of 276 EMS providers from the city of Makkah in Saudi Arabia during the period from July 2020 to June 2021. SPSS (version 21.0) was used for data entry and data analysis. We approximate a 95% confidence interval (±0.05).

Results: Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and paramedics are representing most of the participants, 44% and 43%, respectively. EMS doctor, EMS registered nurse and others represent the remaining 13%. When the participants assessed their level of satisfaction on how their institutions have handled the pandemic, 34% expressed that they were satisfied, 14% were very satisfied, while 21% and 13% expressed that they were dissatisfied and very dissatisfied. On the availability of resources, 42% had access to N95 masks whenever they needed access to them while 33% did not have access.

Conclusion: As the study demonstrates a relationship between the capability of emergency medical services personnel to handle a pandemic like COVID-19 and institutional preparedness, there are still significant gaps in EMS personnel's PPE training. EMS agencies should be supported in their efforts to effectively prepare their workers while the pandemic continues in our communities. Therefore, institutions should adopt guidelines that stipulate care for patients with COVID-19, provide training to emergency personnel, and properly distribute resources and PPE.