Purpose To conduct a comprehensive scoping review of the literature on emergency medical services (EMS) in Saudi Arabia, identify research gaps, and propose priorities for future research. Design/methodology/approach This scoping review identified 1,312 total results, yielding 747 unique articles after the removal of duplicates. These were reviewed by title and abstract for inclusion and exclusion criteria. A total of 241 were eligible for full manuscript review, and after full-text review, 206 articles remained and had their data extracted. Findings The majority of studies (n = 167, 81.1%) were conducted in Saudi Arabia. A notable surge in publications was observed between 2020 and 2022, with 118 manuscripts published during this period. Cross-sectional designs were most common (n = 112, 54.4%), followed by retrospective studies (n = 31, 15%). King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences led institutional contributions (n = 42, 20.4%), followed by King Saud University (n = 36, 17.5%). The most studied topics were the EMS system (n = 61, 29.6%) and EMS providers (n = 57, 27.7%). Outcome domains focused primarily on education (n = 50, 24.3%), health and wellness (n = 30, 14.6%), system development (n = 23, 11.2%) and quality (n = 19, 9.2%). Originality/value This review provides the first comprehensive synthesis of EMS-related research in Saudi Arabia, offering a foundational understanding of system trends, identifying current gaps and informing future research priorities aimed at improving prehospital care in the Kingdom.
Alhussaini et al. (Tue,) studied this question.