Facilitators and barriers to the effective management of major trauma by pre-hospital medical services following road traffic accidents in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Emergency medical services (EMS) provide assistance to patients through pre-hospital management and support, including on-site treatment of traumatic injuries arising from road traffic accidents. Saudi Arabia currently has one of the highest road traffic accident-related mortality rates in the world; however, there is a dearth of published research in the Saudi Arabian context that examines pre-hospital emergency management practices in the context of blunt trauma patients' outcomes arising from road traffic accidents. The Saudi Red Crescent Authority, the main provider of community emergency medical services in Saudi Arabia, is the primary service that delivers pre-hospital trauma assistance to patients injured in a road traffic accident. The goal of this thesis is to establish information can be used to develop and recommend specialised and specific solutions for adoption by the Saudi Red Crescent Authority to reduce the currently high rate of mortality and morbidity following road traffic accidents.