How does establishing a mental health service for paramedics in Saudi Arabia will affect their outcomes?

Abstract

Abstract Aim: focus on finding a perfect, effective, and functioning models of mental support system for paramedics in other countries and make comparisons to identify the most common and effective method used. Then, try to implement it into pre-hospital care personnel’s work in Saudi Arabia. Background: emergency medical specialists (paramedics) and people who work in prehospital care have one of the most stressful and demanding jobs. Most of the studies that have been done demonstrate that paramedics suffer from a lot of psychological and physical health problems. Due to several factors, they experience multiple psychological issues, for instance, stress, anxiety, PTSD, occupational burnout, and depression. A lot of the studies discuss the prevalence of mental health issues among paramedics. In contrast, few of them have discussed or suggested prevention measures or interventions for these issues. Design: a systematised review. Method: three of the most known medical databases (PubMed, Medline, and CINAHL) and Google Scholar were searched through to conduct this review. nine articles were selected after database search, title, abstract, and full-text analysis and data extraction were carried out. Results: four main themes were identified: online psychological support, manager and peer support, exposure-based cognitive behavioural therapy, and improving referral to psychological support unit and downtime after critical incidents. Also, in the majority of the included studies, the participants were male, so the response to the mentioned psychological interventions for female emergency services workers is uncertain. In addition, scientific literature regarding psychological intervention and management in general and specifically in Saudi Arabia is lacking since only one study focused on one region of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Conclusion: the review findings suggest that there is a lack of interventions and services that specifically target paramedics and pre-hospital care workers and are aimed at promoting mental well-being among this group. It is recommended to conduct high-quality studies with 8 large samples to evaluate the impact of the existing interventions and gain a better understanding of mental well-being. The emergency care provider must be adequately educated and trained to ensure that the organisation is fully informed of psychological support units available in Saudi Arabia and the modern way of accessing its services. The mechanism will initiate reports with the flexibility and quality of proof that ensures a clear connection to the unit.