Articles In Press
Back to the articles list |
Back to browse issues page
Ethics code: IR.MUMS.IRH.REC.1403.185
دانشگاه علوم پزشکی مشهد، مشهد، ایران.
Abstract: (4 Views)
Background: With increasing specialization of services, no hospital can cover all emergency services, and selecting the appropriate destination is critical for reducing delays and improving outcomes. This study aimed to assess public awareness of the distribution of specialized emergency services in hospitals of Mashhad, Iran.
Methods: This web-based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from February to May 2025 among 876 adults aged 18–70 years in Mashhad using non-probability sampling via Telegram. Data were collected using a researcher-developed electronic questionnaire containing 16 multiple-choice questions about specialized emergency services and analyzed using nonparametric tests and multivariable regression. Post-stratification weighting was applied to improve sample representativeness.
Results: The mean overall awareness index was 0.553 (unweighted) and 0.563 (weighted) with acceptable reliability (α=0.763, ω=0.842). Women demonstrated higher awareness than men (0.592 vs. 0.534, p<0.001). Education showed an inverse relationship with awareness; individuals with doctoral degrees had the lowest awareness (0.503). The highest awareness was observed for otolaryngology services (0.615) and the lowest for pediatric neurology (0.421).
Conclusions: Public awareness of specialized emergency service distribution in Mashhad was only 1.6% higher than selection based on hospital reputation. This finding, along with confusion in identifying certain services, demonstrates the need for developing digital guidance platforms, targeted branding of specialized centers, and integration of information with the emergency medical services (EMS) system.
Methods: This web-based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from February to May 2025 among 876 adults aged 18–70 years in Mashhad using non-probability sampling via Telegram. Data were collected using a researcher-developed electronic questionnaire containing 16 multiple-choice questions about specialized emergency services and analyzed using nonparametric tests and multivariable regression. Post-stratification weighting was applied to improve sample representativeness.
Results: The mean overall awareness index was 0.553 (unweighted) and 0.563 (weighted) with acceptable reliability (α=0.763, ω=0.842). Women demonstrated higher awareness than men (0.592 vs. 0.534, p<0.001). Education showed an inverse relationship with awareness; individuals with doctoral degrees had the lowest awareness (0.503). The highest awareness was observed for otolaryngology services (0.615) and the lowest for pediatric neurology (0.421).
Conclusions: Public awareness of specialized emergency service distribution in Mashhad was only 1.6% higher than selection based on hospital reputation. This finding, along with confusion in identifying certain services, demonstrates the need for developing digital guidance platforms, targeted branding of specialized centers, and integration of information with the emergency medical services (EMS) system.
Keywords: Emergency Service, Hospitals, Emergency Medical Services, Health Services Accessibility Public Awareness.
Send email to the article author
| Rights and permissions | |
 |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
Contact Us
Post Address: Bandar Abbas, Imam Hossein Boulevard, campus of University of Medical Sciences, School of Nursing and Midwifery.
Tel: +(98) 763 331 7723
Cell Phone: +(98) 939 654 9816
jmis
hums.ac.ir
