Explaining the challenges of pre-hospital emergency healthcare workers in providing care at the scene

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Pre-hospital emergency healthcare workers face various problems because of the complexities of providing care during emergencies. These challenges can affect their successful performance in achieving their professional goals. To identify these challenges, the present study was conducted to explain the challenges of pre-hospital emergency workers in providing care at the scene. Materials and Methods: The present qualitative study was conducted at Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences in 2022 using the contractual content analysis method. Twenty pre-hospital emergency workers were selected purposefully, and data were collected using individual in-depth semistructured interviews and analyzed using Granheim and Lundman’s approach. Results: The findings include three categories (systemic obstacles, society’s cultural ignorance, and religious obstacles) and seven subcategories (manpower-related obstacles, inappropriate and insufficient equipment, lack of attention and support, inconsistency between organizations, disruptive measures of care, wrong attitude and wrong belief, and gender-related barriers) of obstacles that cause emergency healthcare workers to face challenges in providing care at the scene. Conclusion: The factors that need consideration in strengthening pre-hospital emergency healthcare include improving the training process of students, planning for in-service training of employees, increasing their motivation levels, noticing their psychological issues, developing inter-organizational protocols and policies, and educating, training, and employing women in pre-hospital emergency care.