The rapid development of technology worldwide, the population growth, and the widespread unplanned urbanization have led to a rapid increase in major emergencies and disasters. Unfortunately, today it is impossible to fully eliminate the threats and hazards caused by terrorist attacks, industrial accidents, traffic accidents, wrecks, and airplane crashes [1]. In fact, the subsequent pile-ups that happened in Turkey in August 2022 underlined the severity of the incident once again, and the need for pre-hospital emergency medical care has further increased [2]. Additionally, what happened during these pile-ups suggested that parademics must be more trained and ready for a coordinated and effective response [3]. Emergency medical care, which occupies an important place for human health and is considered an integral part of the health system, aim to deliver healthcare to the injured individuals or patients as soon as possible in the best way possible. Hence, emergency medical care helps to reduce morbidity and mortality due to sudden health problems, chronic diseases, and traumas in individuals [4]. Paramedics who provide pre-hospital emergency medical care have an integral role in the management of mass disasters [5], and what distinguish paramedics from other healthcare professionals is that they provide first and emergency medical assistance in the field in incidents that threaten human health. They are exposed to many dangers and threats while fulfilling such an important task. The safety and management of the incident scene, that varies depending on the severity of the incident, can be provided by taking simple and effective measures [6]. It has been reported that similar negligence have happened during mass disasters, the teams who arrived at the scene responded to accidents without making the scene assessment, the scene safety cannot be ensured and the necessary precautions have not been taken. Therefore, the safety and management of the incident scene is an important issue that the paramedics as well as the students who go into clinical practice should know. Since possible risks associated with these threats are of great importance for both the health of the professionals and students who are actively working in the field and the public health [7].

Paramedics who have to act very quickly and make quick decisions at the scene may feel stress due to such circumstances. In the literature, it is stated that stressful working conditions cause concern, fear, anxiety, and depression, and physical ailments [8]. While mild anxiety increases the individual’s concentration on incidents, as well as their motivation and problem-solving skills, severe anxiety causes disorientation, loss of control, sweating of hands and feet and elevated blood pressure. Also, anxiety inhibits the healthcare personnel from both delivering an effective care to the patients and fulfilling the minimum tasks expected from the healthcare personnel [9]. The studies have emphasized that healthcare personnel should possess effective leadership skills in order to deliver a quality healthcare service and they have highlighted the regulatory role of leadership on anxiety. People who are highly communicative, self-confident, have positive self-esteem, and are able to understand the needs of others have a high level of leadership [10]. People with highly perception of leadership set the standards for patient care, question what needs to be done and why, quickly decide how it should be done and make changes if any deviations exist during response. Particularly, given the life-saving roles of paramedics, the perception of leadership to facilitate human life is more important and significant. Indeed, quick decision-making contributes to more successful interventions in designing self-observation tasks, implementing advanced life support protocols and controlling anger by paramedics who are team leaders with high leadership skills. Paramedics who fail to develop leadership skills in having sufficient professional knowledge and skills such as life support practices have problems in challenging conditions in the field and they are exposed to unfavorable circumstances such as violence and assault [11].

The education of healthcare personnel has become more important upon disasters increasing in recent years, and curricula have been continuously improved in the world and in Turkey on the content of the education given to paramedic students as well as student competence [12].

Upon the literature review, no study has been found that demonstrates the relationship between pre-hospital incident scene management and anxiety levels and perception of leadership in students who study in paramedic departments in vocational schools of health services. Therefore, the present study holds particular importance for a full understanding of students’ knowledge of incident scene management and their anxiety and leadership notions. Accordingly, this study was conducted to determine the relationship between pre-hospital incident scene management, anxiety levels, and leadership perception of paramedic students.