Assessment of emergency medical services personnel preparedness against biological incidents

Today, health care and medical preparedness against biological threats are important. In the event of a biological incident scene, emergency medical personnel among the other employee's health care system will aid due to the inherent nature of its activities. This study accomplished aimed to assess the readiness of emergency medicine personnel against biological incidents, with 121 samples selected from Tehran EMS personnel in 2012. According to the results, the average age of respondents is 34 years, most of them were associate degree, and average personnel experience 8/6 years. About 60/4% of staff had not received any theoretical education against biological contamination conditions. About 68/9% of staff had not received any practical training to deal with biological threats. About the necessary equipment for dealing with biological events, 48/5% of the participants declared there is no equipment in ambulance. About the operating procedures to deal with biological incidents, 51% of the staff declared they have no sufficient instructions. Finally, personnel preparedness against biological events was estimated at about 28%.