Assessing Patient Satisfaction in Emergency Medical Services
Author Information
Author(s): Bernard Aaron W, Lindsell Christopher J, Handel Daniel A, Collett Lindsey, Gallo Paul, Kaiser Kevin D, Locasto Donald
Primary Institution: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Hypothesis
We hypothesized that we would obtain a similar response rate to that observed in the one prior postal survey (35% – 40%), and that this response rate remains stable over time.
Conclusion
Postal surveys for assessing patient satisfaction following EMS transport can achieve comparable response rates to similar surveys in other health care settings.
Supporting Evidence
- Overall response rate was 32.0% (857/2764).
- 99.5% of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with their EMS experience.
- Interpersonal communication was the most important contributor to patient satisfaction.
Takeaway
This study shows that sending surveys by mail can help find out how happy patients are with emergency medical services, and most patients were very satisfied.
Methodology
Patients transported between January 2001 and December 2004 were mailed a brief satisfaction questionnaire consisting of five questions using a five-point Likert scale and three open-ended questions.
Potential Biases
Non-responders may be minorities and have lower socioeconomic status, potentially skewing satisfaction results.
Limitations
The primary limitation is a low response rate and the unknown response bias.
Participant Demographics
The city of Reading consists of 11,292 residents, with a population that is 93.7% white and 3.2% African American.
Statistical Information
P-Value
p<0.05
Confidence Interval
95CI 30.3% – 33.9%
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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