Assessment of older people's satisfaction with pre-hospital emergency services

The elderly are generally important users of pre-hospital health care and emergency services. The aim of this study was to determine the level of satisfaction of the elderly with pre-hospital emergency services in Sari.

This descriptive-analytical study was conducted in Sari from May to February 2019. A total of 300 elderly people were selected on weekdays using convenience sampling method. A demographic-cognitive questionnaire and an emergency care satisfaction scale questionnaire were distributed in all 115 emergency centers. The collected data were statistically analyzed with SPSS 21 using Student's t-tests and analysis of variance.

Most people in the elderly age group were 60-75 years old (85.6%). The majority of the studied elderly were men (52%). Of the cases sent by the pre-hospital emergency service, 15% were related to traffic accidents and 85% were not accidents. The highest satisfaction was found in the areas of ambulance status (6.57), technician's professionalism (6.5), and technician's attitude (6.49). The lowest satisfaction was found in performance (6.2) and efficiency (6.44).

The satisfaction of the elderly with pre-hospital emergency services is almost optimal. Providing counseling services to improve communication of technicians in dealing with this age group is a more effective step to increase satisfaction of the elderly.