Developing an Emergency Medical Services Resilience Assessment Tool in Climate Change: A Study Protocol

Abstract

Background:Climate change poses significant threats to the health and safety of communities worldwide. Extreme weather events can disrupt critical infrastructure and overwhelm emergency medical services (EMS) systems. As the frequency and intensity of these climate-related disasters continue to increase, it is essential that EMS organizations develop robust strategies to enhance their resilience. One important step in building climate-resilient EMS systems is the development of comprehensive assessment tools. Developing a comprehensive tool for assessing the resilience of EMS in the face of climate change.Methods:This research employs an applied, mixed-methods approach to investigate the development and validation of the Emergency Medical Services Resilience Assessment (EMSRA) tool. The study will be executed across four key phases: (a) A scoping review will be conducted to identify the global dimensions and components of EMS systems that demonstrate resilience to the impacts of climate change. (b) A qualitative study, involving semistructured interviews, will be undertaken to explore the specific dimensions and components of EMS resilience within the Iranian context. (c) Based on the findings from the scoping review and qualitative inquiry, assessment items related to EMS resilience in climate change will be extracted and synthesized to develop a pilot version of the EMSRA tool. (d) The pilot EMSRA tool will undergo a rigorous process of quantitative and qualitative validation, including an evaluation of its psychometric properties, to assess the resilience of EMS systems in the face of climate-related challenges.Conclusions:The development of EMSRA tool will enable the assessment and enhancement of climate change resilience within the national and provincial EMS systems, providing critical data to inform evidence-based strategies and plans for strengthening EMS against the impacts of severe climate changes.