Knowledge and Attitude of Prehospital Emergency Workers Regarding Professional Legal Issues: A Cross-sectional Study

Background: Emergency medical services, more commonly known as EMS, is the first level of health care. The first step to be protected against legal traps is to gain the due legal knowledge. The current study surveyed the knowledge and attitude of prehospital emergency workers regarding professional legal issues at Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences in Iran.  Materials and Methods: This is an analytical, cross-sectional study conducted in ۲۰۲۱. The study statistical community included all emergency medical staff working in headquarters and the personnel of ۱۱۵ emergency service centers and the emergency staff of Mazandaran Province. The data were collected by a researcher-built questionnaire about the status of knowledge and attitude of emergency medical service staff considering legal issues. To study the relationship between the scores of knowledge, attitude, the Pearson correlation was used and to evaluate the factors influencing the score of knowledge, attitude, multiple linear regression was employed. SPSS software, version ۲۲ was used for data analysis and significance level ۰.۰۵ was considered. Results: The study consisted of ۲۶۷ participants whose mean age was ۳۳.۳۱±۶.۹۹ y. The majority of the participants were men (۸۸%) and married (۷۹.۸%). The variables, including marital status, education, the type of employment, service base, presence in judicial communities, age and work experience revealed to be meaningfully related with the score of attitude. In terms of knowledge, ۷۷.۹% of the staff were at satisfactory level. Considering attitude, ۵۵.۴% were at good level. Conclusion: The level of legal knowledge and attitude of prehospital emergency workers was at favorable level. However, it is recommended to organize training courses as clinical scenarios in order to increase and update the information on the criminal and penal codes relevant to the profession. Therefore, it is suggested to identify the legal challenges of pre-hospital emergency workers.

کلیدواژه ها:

Knowledge ، Attitude ، Laws ، Medical services ، Prehospital emergency care