Table 2.
Patient-reported Facilitators and Barriers for EMS Vehicle Use (selections out of an itemized list; multiple reasons per patient, total adds to more than 108)
| Patient-reported priority reasons for using or not using EMS | No (% of total 108 surveyed patients) |
|---|---|
| Facilitators/reasons why patient used EMSa (75 patients who used EMS) | |
| A neighbor or family member agreed/insisted to call 911 | 33 (30.6) |
| Symptoms were severe and scary | 31 (28.7) |
| I felt my symptoms could be stroke | 31 (28.7) |
| I knew that arriving at the hospital quickly was important | 16 (14.8) |
| I felt ambulance was the best way to get care | 9 (8.3) |
| My doctor/nurse told me to call 911 if I had symptoms | 9 (8.3) |
| I was unconscious; a bystander called 911 | 6 (5.6) |
| I know someone with bad effects of stroke due to not calling ambulance | 2 (1.9) |
| I normally take care of my health and felt I needed care urgently | 2 (1.9) |
| I knew others who became disabled or died from stroke | 1 (0.9) |
| I/We had good prior experience with using ambulance | 1 (0.9) |
| Barriers/reasons why EMS was not useda (33 patients who did not use EMS) | |
| Symptoms took a long time to become serious | 10 (9.3) |
| I live out in the country, driving may be quicker than ambulance | 8 (7.4) |
| I felt normal; symptoms came and went | 7 (6.5) |
| I had no pain, so I did not feel it was urgent or serious | 6 (5.6) |
| I called my doctor and they asked me to go directly to the hospital ER | 6 (5.6) |
| Family member present insisted we should not call ambulance | 5 (4.6) |
| I was at work/somewhere else and waited till I could leave | 4 (3.7) |
| I did not know that I could have serious problems if not treated quickly | 2 (1.9) |
| I have no insurance, will get a big bill/worried about my share of ambulance cost/insurance may not cover if symptom is not serious | 5 (4.6) |
| I/my family member had a large medical expense or bills before this | 2 (1.9) |
| There is a long waiting time at the ER anyway, so might as well go by car | 2 (1.9) |
| The ambulance siren and lights will disturb neighbors, and I don’t want them to know my business | 1 (0.9) |
| My family members were out | 1 (0.9) |
| I live alone and was too weak to call | 1 (0.9) |
EMS, emergency medical services, ER emergency room
a Aggregated from the top three self-reported facilitators for ambulance use among those who used ambulance and top three self-reported barriers for ambulance use among those who did not use ambulance. Up to 3 priority reasons included in the table. Numbers add up to more than 108