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Table 2 Responses of emergency medicine physicians and administrators to Q-statements regarding emergency medicine in Serbia. Statements are listed from greatest to least participant consensus. With each statement, an averaged agreement score is calculated for all participants and for each identified respondent type. Scores represent the spectrum of participant agreement/disagreement (i.e. "strongly disagree" (-3), "ambivalent/neutral" (0), or "strongly agree" (+3) with the statement). To aid discussion of respondent types, summary labels ("Utilize", "Develop", and "Invest") characterize unique qualities of each respondent type. "Utilize" respondent type is most concerned with the poor utilization of emergency services. "Develop" respondent type advocates the further development of emergency medicine. "Invest" respondent type emphasizes the need for greater investment in emergency medicine.

From: Integrating quantitative and qualitative methodologies for the assessment of health care systems: emergency medicine in post-conflict Serbia

Q-statements (listed in order of greatest consensus to least consensus)

Averaged participant agreement score

Agreement scores of identified respondent types

  

"Utilize" (5 loaders, 4 definers)

"Develop" (6 loaders, 3 definers)

"Invest" (4 loaders, 2 definers)

It is NOT necessary for patients to be seen by physicians in the field, but rather patients should be brought immediately to an emergency department for care.

-2.0

-2

-1

-3

Health management training for health care leaders is essential for the improvement of emergency medical services.

-0.1

-1

-1

-2

The public overuses ambulance services because there is no charge for the use of these services.

0.6

1

0

1

The first priority for the development of emergency medicine should be to improve the organization of emergency services.

0.4

2

1

0

Patients arriving to the emergency facility should be taken, according to their illness, directly to a specific specialty department.

-0.4

-1

-1

-1

Protocols should be developed to standardize the treatment of patients throughout Serbia.

1.2

0

3

-1

Emergency medicine should be taught as a required course during the last year of medical school.

0.8

-2

2

0

Emergency medicine in Serbia would function better if it were financed by the federal budget rather than by the social health insurance fund.

0.0

1

0

-1

Emergency medicine should be a separate specialty in which physicians are trained to exclusively practice emergency medicine.

0.0

1

2

-2

Primary health care providers in the health houses are sufficiently trained in the triage of emergent and non-emergent patients.

-1.8

-1

-2

-3

All institutions that provide emergency medical services should be open 24 hours a day.

1.4

0

2

1

A priority in the development of emergency medicine is to increase the number of appropriately equipped ambulances.

-0.6

-2

-3

1

There should be national guidelines to determine which illnesses/injuries should be treated at each type of health care facility.

0.2

2

0

1

Much of the burden on emergency health care providers is due to the time spent caring for non-emergent patients.

1.3

3

0

0

Continuing medical education should be required by law of all physicians working in emergency medicine.

1.0

0

1

2

There is poor coordination among the various specialties that provide emergency medical services.

-0.3

-1

1

-1

The public should be better educated about the level of care that each health care institution provides in order to properly use the available health care services.

0.3

3

0

0

The medical school is currently playing a sufficient role in the development of emergency medicine in Serbia.

-1.6

-3

-1

-1

There is poor cooperation between the emergency centers, clinical-hospital centers, pre-hospital emergency services, and health houses.

0.6

1

1

3

Physicians working in emergency medicine in Serbia need greater expertise and technical skills to provide an appropriate level of care.

0.8

-2

3

3

The problems in emergency medicine would be solved if there were money and equipment with which to work.

0.4

2

-2

2

There is an appropriate balance of theoretical and practical training for physicians in emergency medicine.

-2.0

-3

-3

-2

Radio communication does not function effectively between the ambulances and the medical institutions.

-0.1

0

-2

2