Prehospital emergency care family satisfaction scale for care provided by emergency medical technicians: Scale development and validation

J Eval Clin Pract. 2024 Dec;30(8):1636-1644. doi: 10.1111/jep.14090. Epub 2024 Jul 8.

Abstract

Rationale: To date, family satisfaction with emergency medical technicians (EMTs) has only been reported through narrative statements in subjective evaluations. Although a quantitative assessment of healthcare professional satisfaction is desirable, no specific measures have been devised to assess family satisfaction with the healthcare and care provided by EMTs.

Aims and objectives: This study aimed to develop and validate an EMT care family satisfaction scale to measure patient satisfaction with prehospital emergency care.

Methods: The study population comprised 216 family members (N = 216) of patients who used ambulances between November 2020 and May 2021 in a single region in Japan. Questionnaires were distributed to the participants who provided informed consent. An exploratory factor analysis of construct validity was performed to validate the Family Satisfaction Scale. The Cronbach's alpha was used to validate the internal consistency reliability of the scale.

Results: The exploratory factor analysis results revealed a four-factor structure: 'explanation and communication,' 'physical treatment,' 'psychological support,' and 'environment in the ambulance.' The Cronbach's range (0.80-0.93) for the total score for each of these four factors and the overall total score confirmed favorable internal reliability of this study.

Conclusions: The family satisfaction scale developed in this study was constructed and validated to highlight the role of EMTs and needs of the families in the prehospital care settings. Moreover, this scale can be applied in the evaluation and consideration of interventions to improve family satisfaction with EMTs.

Keywords: ambulance; emergency medical technicians; family; satisfaction.

Publication types

  • Validation Study

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Emergency Medical Services* / standards
  • Emergency Medical Technicians* / psychology
  • Factor Analysis, Statistical
  • Family* / psychology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Japan
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Patient Satisfaction
  • Psychometrics
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Surveys and Questionnaires / standards