Public awareness of the EMS system in Western Saudi Arabia: identifying the weakest link

BACKGROUND: The City of Jeddah is the major and largest city in the Western Region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Covering a total area of 748 km2. The Saudi Red Crescent Organization (SRC) makes up the major bulk of the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) system in the Kingdom. We have set out to investigate the level of public awareness of the EMS system in place in Western KSA. METHOD: This study was an observational cross-sectional study that was done by interviewing the general public in public venues. The survey consisted of a two part questionnaire. The first part was completed for all subjects. The second part was completed only for those subjects that had previous experience with the SRC service. RESULT: A total of 1534 subjects were interviewed by 5 data collectors. 33% of people did not know the emergency dispatcher number to call in case of a medical emergency. The majority estimated the ETA of an ambulance response to their home to be about 30 minutes or more. 94 % said that MEDEVAC is needed. 17.7 % of people still find it unacceptable for male paramedics to respond to a female emergency unescorted by a male family member. CONCLUSION: It is clear that the general public is aware of the deficit in EMS coverage that is present. To improve the public awareness of the EMS system, municipal, legislative, public guidance, as well as religious support, are needed to be utilized to improve the community’s satisfaction and quality of care. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12245-015-0070-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.