Validation of a Service Behavior Measurement According to Emergency Medical Standards of Health Personnel: Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Emergency medical services are in pre-hospital health services. This is a critical time, important to the lives of emergency patients. Using a measure to assess the service behavior according to emergency medical standards (SB-EMS) will help medical personnel perform their work according to standards, resulting in emergency patients having more chances of survival and safety. Objective: To validate the measurement tool of SB-EMS for evaluating quality, accuracy, and reliability. Materials and Methods: The present study was a cross-sectional study executed between January and May 2024 designed by collecting data based on 205 health personnel, which consisted of professional nurses, paramedics, and emergency medical technicians working in the Bangkok emergency medical service system through stratified random sampling. The data were collected with a 6-rating scale questionnaire. An initial sampling from 30 participants gave a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.77 to 0.84 and item-total correlations of 0.55 to 0.79. Data was analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using LISREL version 8.72. Results: CFA confirmed the construct validity of measures with empirical data. The 16-item of service behavior according to the emergency medical standards scale achieved an overall Cronbach’s alpha of 0.93 and factor loading between 0.59 to 0.87. There was a chi-square value of 166.35 at 85 degrees of freedom. The probability was 0.000, comparative fit index (CFI) was 0.99, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) was 0.06, and standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) was 0.04. Conclusion: The developed scales serve as high-quality assessment tools for human resources specialists or academicians in screening or assessing SB-EMS of health personnel.