The knowledge of triage system in disaster among emergency medical service personnel at Saudi Red Crescent Authority in Riyadh city stations

PurposeSimple Triage and Rapid Treatment (START) is a unique triage system used by prehospital providers during disasters to quickly categorize and prioritize patient care according to severity. This study aims at evaluating knowledge about the START triage system among field emergency medical servi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of emergency services 2021-10, Vol.10 (3), p.340-350
Main Authors: Althunayyan, Saqer, Alhalybah, Abdullah, Aloudah, Ahmed, Samarkandi, Osama A, Khan, Anas A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Demographics
Disaster medicine
Disasters
Education
Emergency medical care
Emergency medical services
Health facilities
Health services
Knowledge
Mass casualty incidents
Medical personnel
Multiple choice
Paramedics
Physicians
Professionals
Questionnaires
Random sampling
Technicians
Training
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Summary:PurposeSimple Triage and Rapid Treatment (START) is a unique triage system used by prehospital providers during disasters to quickly categorize and prioritize patient care according to severity. This study aims at evaluating knowledge about the START triage system among field emergency medical service (EMS) personnel working at the Saudi Red Crescent Authority (SRCA) in the stations of the city of Riyadh.Design/methodology/approachThis is a cross-sectional study that examined data collected from August 2019 to January 2020. The statistical population is from all field EMS personnel working in the SRCA located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Using simple random sampling, 239 field EMS personnel were assessed, and 235 completed the study (98.3% response rate). Data were collected electronically using demographics and 15 multiple choice emergency scenarios based on the START protocol.FindingsThe mean correct score is 8.21 ± 3.36 out of 15 questions of triage knowledge (score of 0–15 points), indicating that those respondents have moderate knowledge levels on the START triage tool. Physicians and paramedics have higher mean scores (10.13 ± 3.42 and 9.07 ± 3.22, respectively), which are significantly higher than emergency medical technicians and nurses (7.25 ± 3.15 and 5.63 ± 2.72, respectively; p 
ISSN:2047-0894
2047-0908
DOI:10.1108/IJES-03-2021-0010