Disaster health education framework for short and intermediate training in Saudi Arabia: A scoping review.

Background: Saudi Arabia has made extensive efforts to manage disasters using unique national approaches; however, challenges and obstacles concerning disaster health handling persist. The nation has a reactive strategy to disaster management with a need for increased involvement of health professionals in disaster management and improvement of healthcare facilities emergency preparedness including competency-based education training. Objective: A comprehensive and consistent approach of disaster education programs for short and intermediate training of health professionals involved in disaster responses in Saudi Arabia is still not evident. Therefore, it is vital to explore and map the current state of the disaster education framework in Saudi Arabia. Methods: The Joanna Briggs Institute approach for scoping reviews was used to assess research articles and preprints between January 2000 and September 2021 from Saudi Digital Library; PubMed, CINAHL, and Google Scholar. Five experts identified key aspects of the disaster education approach and eligibility criteria to facilitate identification of relevant articles. Results: Only five articles met the specified criteria and described two short and three intermediate courses on disaster health management in Saudi Arabia. All courses involved competency-specific training aimed at basic or foundational level and involved a range of activities and learning types. None had refresher courses within 12 months. Conclusion: The review highlights the obvious scarcity of short and intermediate term evidence-based disaster health programs in Saudi Arabia. Adoption of the education framework proposed by the authors based on international frameworks could improve the quality and consistency of the disaster education curriculum in Saudi Arabia.

Assessment of the effectiveness of a course in major chemical incidents for front line health care providers: a pilot study from Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND: Mass chemical exposure emergencies are infrequent but can cause injury, illness, or loss of life for large numbers of victims. These emergencies can stretch and challenge the available resources of healthcare systems within the community. Political unrest in the Middle East, including chemical terrorist attacks against civilians in Syria and increasing chemical industry accidents, have highlighted the lack of hospital preparedness for chemical incidents in the region. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a course designed to empower frontline healthcare providers involved in mass casualty incidents with the basic knowledge and essential operational skills for mass chemical exposure incidents in Saudi Arabia. METHODS: A mixed-methods approach was used to develop a blended learning, simulation enhanced, competency-based course for major chemical incidents for front line healthcare providers. The course was designed by experts from different disciplines (disaster medicine, poisoning / toxicology, and Hazard Material Threat - HAZMAT team) in four stages. The course was piloted over five days at the Officers Club of the Ministry of Interior (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia). The 41 participants were from different government health discipline sectors in the country. Pre- and post-tests were used to assess learner knowledge while debriefing sessions after the decontamination triage session and simulation-enhanced exercises were used for team performance assessment. RESULTS: The overall knowledge scores were significantly higher in the post-test (69.47%) than the pre-test (46.3%). All four knowledge domains also had significant differences between pre- and post-test results. There were no differences in the pre and post-test scores for healthcare providers from the different health disciplines. A one-year post-event survey demonstrated that participants were satisfied with their knowledge retention. Interestingly, 38.3% had the opportunity to put this knowledge into practice in relation to mass chemical exposure incidents. CONCLUSION: Delivering a foundation level competency-based blended learning course with enhanced simulation training in major chemical incidents for front line healthcare providers may improve their knowledge and skills in response to such incidents. This in turn can improve the level of national preparedness and staff availability and make a crucial difference in reducing the health impacts among victims.

A Basic Course in Humanitarian Health Emergency and Relief: A Pilot Study from Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND: Political unrest in the Middle East heightens the possibility of catastrophe due to violent conflict and/or terrorist attacks. However, the disaster risk reduction strategy in the Saudi health care system appears to be a reactive approach focused more on flood hazards than other threats. Given the current unstable political situation in its neighboring countries and Saudi Arabia's key role in providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to those affected by internal conflicts and wars, it is essential to develop a framework for training standards related to complex humanitarian disasters to provide the requisite skills and knowledge in a gradual manner, according to local context and international standards. This framework could also support the World Health Organization's (WHO; Geneva, Switzerland) initiative for establishing a national disaster assistance team in Saudi Arabia. PROBLEM: The main aim of this study is to provide Saudi health care providers with a competencies-based course in Basic Principles of Complex Humanitarian Emergency. METHODS: The interactive, competencies-based course in Basic Principles of Complex Humanitarian Emergency was designed by five experts in disaster medicine and humanitarian relief in three stages, accordance to international standards and the local context. The course was piloted over five days at the Officers Club of the Ministry of Interior (MOI; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia). The 33 participants were from different health disciplines of the government sectors in-country. The participants completed the pre- and post-tests and attended three pilot workshops for disaster community awareness. RESULTS: The overall knowledge scores were significantly higher in the post-test (62.9%) than the pre-test (44.2%). There were no significant differences in the pre- and post-knowledge scores for health care providers from the different government health disciplines. A 10-month, post-event survey demonstrated that participants were satisfied with their knowledge retention. Importantly, three of them (16.6%) had the opportunity to put this knowledge into practice in relation to humanitarian aid response. CONCLUSION: Delivering a competencies-based course in Basic Principles of Complex Humanitarian Emergency for health care providers can help improve their knowledge and skills for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, which is crucial for disaster preparedness augmentation in Saudi Arabia.