Identifying the Components of Prehospital Emergency Preparedness in Radiological and Nuclear Incidents: A Protocol Study

Background: Prehospital emergency preparedness in radiological and nuclear incidents is significant to the health system's first responders. This study aims to conduct a scoping literature review to identify and explain the components affecting prehospital emergency preparedness in radiological and nuclear incidents. Methods: This study is a scoping review protocol. A search will be conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest, and Google Scholar databases using main keywords, including nuclear, radiation, radiological, and Prehospital Emergency Care, preparedness, and relevant MeSH terms defined in the PubMed database from 1970 to 2024. Articles related to prehospital emergency preparedness and nuclear and radiation incidents are the inclusion criteria for the study. The documents used will include a variety of original, systematic, and scoping review articles. The basis for defining search strategies will be the guide for each database. Database management, removing duplicate and irrelevant articles, and extracting appropriate articles will be done using EndNote software version X7. Two team members will perform all screening and selection steps based on the inclusion and exclusion Criteria. The PRISMA 2020 flowchart will be used to show the article selection process. Results: The results of this study will identify the effective components for prehospital emergency preparedness in radiological and nuclear incidents, categorized into subcategories and codes. Conclusion: Knowing the effective components of prehospital emergency preparedness will improve the response. In this way, various groups, including decision-makers, researchers, and executive areas, including the Ministry of Health and Medical Education and the Non-Active Defense Organization, can take a more effective step in managing the risk of emergencies and disasters.