Public Beliefs About Accessibility and Quality of Emergency Departments in Germany.
Background: It is well established that emergency department (ED) crowding leads to worse health outcomes. Although various patient surveys provide information about reasons to visit EDs, less is known in terms of beliefs about EDs among the general population. This study examines public beliefs reg...
| Publicado en: | Western Journal of Emergency Medicine: Integrating Emergency Care with Population Health Vol. 25; no. 3; pp. 389 - 399 |
|---|---|
| Autores principales: | , , , , , |
| Formato: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
Western Journal of Emergency Medicine: Integrating Emergency Care with Population Health
May2024
|
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=177502416&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 177502416 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 1936900X 8B61 jtl: Western Journal of Emergency Medicine: Integrating Emergency Care with Population Health issn: 1936900X maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: May2024 vid: 25 iid: 3 pid: 29816 pub: Western Journal of Emergency Medicine: Integrating Emergency Care with Population Health place: Orange, California artinfo: ui: 177502416 177502416 177502416 10.5811/westjem.18224 177502416 ppf: 389 ppct: 10 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Public Beliefs About Accessibility and Quality of Emergency Departments in Germany. aug: au: Klein, Jens Koens, Sarah Scherer, Martin Strauß, Annette Härter, Martin von dem Knesebeck, Olaf affil: University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Institute of Medical Sociology, Hamburg, Germany sug: subj: Public Opinion Health Beliefs Health Services Accessibility Quality of Health Care Emergency Service Germany Social Factors Health Knowledge Health Literacy Germany Human Cross Sectional Studies Random Sample Coefficient alpha Descriptive Statistics Linear Regression Female Male Adolescence Adult Middle Age Aged Adolescent: 13-18 years Adult: 19-44 years Middle Aged: 45-64 years Aged: 65+ years Female Male ab: Background: It is well established that emergency department (ED) crowding leads to worse health outcomes. Although various patient surveys provide information about reasons to visit EDs, less is known in terms of beliefs about EDs among the general population. This study examines public beliefs regarding accessibility and quality of EDs and their associations with social characteristics (gender, age, education, immigration background) as well as knowledge about emergency care services and health literacy. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study based on a random sample of 2,404 adults living in Hamburg, Germany, in winter 2021/2022. We developed eight statements regarding accessibility and quality of EDs leading to two scales (Cronbach's α accessibility = 0.76 and quality of care = 0.75). Descriptive statistics of the eight items are shown and linear regression were conducted to determine associations of the two scales with social characteristics as well as knowledge about emergency care services and health literacy (HLS-EU-Q6). Results: Nearly 44% of the respondents agreed that "you can always go to an ED, if you do not get a short-term appointment with a general practitioner or specialist." And 38% agreed with the statement, "If you do not have the time during normal practice hours due to your work, you can always go to an ED." In terms of quality, 38% believed that doctors in EDs are more competent than doctors in general practice, and 25% believed that doctors in EDs are more competent than doctors in specialized practices. In the fully adjusted model, public beliefs about emergency care accessibility and quality of EDs were significantly associated with all social characteristics and knowledge of emergency care options with the strongest associations between knowledge and accessibility (β = -0.17; P < 0.001) and between education and quality (β = -0.23; P < 0.001). Conclusion: We found endorsement of public beliefs about accessibility and quality of EDs that can lead to inappropriate utilization. Our results also suggest that knowledge of different emergency services plays an important role. Therefore, after system-related reorganizations of emergency care, information campaigns about such services tailored to socially deprived populations may help alleviate the issue of crowding. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
|---|