Dataset Information

Prehospital Emergency Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review.

ABSTRACT:

Background

An under-developed and fragmented prehospital Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system is a major obstacle to the timely care of emergency patients. Insufficient emphasis on prehospital emergency systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) currently causes a substantial number of avoidable deaths from time-sensitive illnesses, highlighting a critical need for improved prehospital emergency care systems. Therefore, this systematic review aimed to assess the prehospital emergency care services across LMICs.

Methods

This systematic review used four electronic databases, namely: PubMed/MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, and SCOPUS, to search for published reports on prehospital emergency medical care in LMICs. Only peer-reviewed studies published in English language from January 1, 2010 through November 1, 2022 were included in the review. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) and Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklist were used to assess the methodological quality of the included studies. Further, the protocol of this systematic review has been registered on the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) database (Ref: CRD42022371936) and has been conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.

Results

Of the 4,909 identified studies, a total of 87 studies met the inclusion criteria and were therefore included in the review. Prehospital emergency care structure, transport care, prehospital times, health outcomes, quality of information exchange, and patient satisfaction were the most reported outcomes in the considered studies.

Conclusions

The prehospital care system in LMICs is fragmented and uncoordinated, lacking trained medical personnel and first responders, inadequate basic materials, and substandard infrastructure.

SUBMITTER: Bhattarai HK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10445116 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Prehospital Emergency Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review.

Bhattarai Hari Krishna HK Bhusal Sandesh S Barone-Adesi Francesco F Hubloue Ives I

Prehospital and disaster medicine 20230726 4

<h4>Background</h4>An under-developed and fragmented prehospital Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system is a major obstacle to the timely care of emergency patients. Insufficient emphasis on prehospital emergency systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) currently causes a substantial number of avoidable deaths from time-sensitive illnesses, highlighting a critical need for improved prehospital emergency care systems. Therefore, this systematic review aimed to assess the prehospital e ...[more]

PMID: 37492946

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Dataset Information

Prehospital Emergency Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Prehospital Emergency Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review.

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