A validated pediatric transport survey: How is your team performing?

Abstract 

Introduction

Understanding referring practitioners' satisfaction with pediatric transport services is useful for quality improvement. Formal survey methodology was applied to develop a pediatric transport satisfaction survey.

Setting

Large metropolitan area in the Southwestern United States.

Methods

A four-stage process was used to create a 20-item pediatric transport satisfaction survey. The final survey was analyzed for test-retest and internal consistency reliability, and surveys were mailed to a large practitioner base.

Results

The survey encompassed three domains: patient care, accessing the transport system, and communication. Test-retest and internal consistency reliability were good (final Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.88.) Of the 229 providers responding, 69% were local (<60 miles), and 31% were served by our long distance transport team (>60 miles). Respondents reported that physicians selected the transport team in 82% of cases, whereas 9% reported that the charge nurse decided. Transport team selection was based on: (1) ease of initiation, (2) fastest arrival, (3) presence of a physician on the team, (4) stabilization time at the referring facility, and (5) team providing best follow-up. Satisfaction with our transport service was high, with a median survey score of 83 (interquartile [IQ] range, 74–92). Physicians and nurses reported equal satisfaction.

Conclusion

Survey design methodology was successfully applied to assess satisfaction with pediatric transport. This transport survey offers a reliable measurement of providers' satisfaction with transport services.