Objective:
To determine the attitudes of emergency physicians (EPs) and attendings staffing academic or university-affiliated emergency departments (ED) on prehospital care issues.
Materials and Methods:
58 EPs and ED attendings who gave consent were asked to answer questions in an interview format about prehospital care in Turkey. T-test and ANOVA were used to analyze the data.
Results:
Thirty-nine EPs (79%) indicated they had received little or no formal education concerning prehospital medicine, and 22 EPs (39%) reported that they had no or only little formal education concerning prehospital care. Forty-eight EPs (83%) considered the care and interventions done in the ambulances inadequate. Similarly, 53 EPs (91%) thought it would be better if EPs provided patient care in the ambulances, and also educated ambulance staff.
Conclusion:
A prehospital care rotation should be established within the emergency medicine core curriculum in Turkey. Ambulances should be staffed with paramedics and EPs should assume a more dominant position in controlling the emergency medical services system.
Keywords: Prehospital care, paramedic, emergency physician, education