Perception, attitudes and expectations among people toward emergency medical services system in Samut Songkhram Province, Thailand

Abstract

The emergency medical service system is a pre-hospital medical service that effectively helps reduce the severity of emergencies and mortality rates before transferring patients to the hospital. This cross-sectional study investigated people's perceptions, attitudes, and expectations toward the emergency medical services system and aimed to find the relationship between the perceptions, attitudes, and expectations toward the emergency medical services system in Samut Songkhram province, Thailand. The samples consisted of 491 individuals who were selected using a multi-stage sampling method. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using linear regression analysis to identify correlations. Results revealed that most participants demonstrated a good overall perception of the use of the emergency medical service system (M = 2.46, SD = 0.27), a good attitude towards the emergency medical service system (M = 2.40, SD = 0.23), and a high level of expectation towards the emergency medical service system (M = 2.85, SD = 0.25). Perception of the use of emergency medical services and attitude towards the emergency medical service system showed positive correlation with expectation towards the emergency medical service system, with R2 = 0.23 (p-value < 0.05). These findings can be used to plan and develop strategies for improving the utilization of emergency medical services, ensuring that the public is informed, understands, and accesses the emergency medical service system correctly and effectively.