Abstract

In the prehospital era, the provision of targeted educational and training programs for certain population sets was essential for maintaining healthcare services and ensuring favorable outcomes. During the coronavirus disease pandemic of 2019 (COVID-19), the prehospital educational and training programs for overcoming the challenges and reaching the targeted audience in the Saudi Red Crescent Authority (SRCA) differed significantly. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, sharing the experiences and lessons learned in relation to the selection of priorities and the development of new strategies for implementing prehospital educational and training programs during pandemics will assist other educational and training entities in building their programs without compromising the learning outcomes. In this review, we discuss the types of educational and training programs, main learning outcomes, targeted audiences, and new strategies adopted by the SRCA during the COVID-19 pandemic. Preserving and advancing essential prehospital knowledge and skills for targeted population sets during pandemics are challenging, and the selection of educational and training programs should be approached differently to achieve best results.

Key words: Training programs, education program, coronavirus disease 2019, COVID-19, Saudi Arabia