ObjectivesTo investigate the ability of emergency medical rescue personnel in Sichuan province to collect information and contact resources at rescue sites, and to provide evidence for emergency training and drills. MethodsThe rescue site of a batch of critically ill patients in public emergency was simulated. The cross-sectional survey was made on rescue personnel at the city (prefecture) and county level of Sichuan province. The rating scale of on-site information contact ability was used to evaluate their performance. Because the score distribution does not conform to the normal distribution, the space between the median and interquartile was used to describe the score, and multiple measurement data was compared by the rank sum test. ResultsA total of 287 rescue drill personnel were included. The overall score M (P25, P75) of information contact ability was 19.57 (13.04, 28.26). The scores of each dimension were as follows: the safety zone was set as 0 (0, 10), the on-site hazard identification was 0 (0, 16.67), external contact and coordination was 50 (0, 50), internal coordination and command was 50 (16.67, 50), the on-site disaster statistics was 40 (10, 70), the on-site resource status was 0 (0, 0), and the on-site reinforcement demand was 0 (0, 0). Hierarchy by occupation: 19.57 (12.50, 28.26) for clinicians, 19.57 (14.13, 34.78) for nurses, 25 (14.67, 32.61) for medical skills, 21.74 (14.13, 30.44) for public health doctors, and 17.39 (9.78, 21.74) for health management. Hierarchy by titles: 21.74 (13.04, 28.26) for intermediate level, and 17.39 (10.33, 23.91) for advanced level. Scores of different dimensions, occupations and titles were compared respectively, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). ConclusionsThe results of this survey show that the emergency medical rescue personnel at the city (prefecture) and county level of Sichuan province have insufficient overall ability to contact information on site, so those with insufficient ability need to be trained. The training focuses on the on-site resource status, on-site reinforcement demands, safety zone setting and the ability to identify on-site hazards.