EMS Provider Attitudes and Perceptions of Enrolling Patients without Consent in Prehospital Emergency Research

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the attitudes and opinions of a broad population of EMS providers on enrolling patients in research without consent. A survey was conducted in 2010 of all EMS providers who participated in the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) reregistration process, which included half of all registered providers. Each reregistration packet included our optional survey, which had nine 6-point Likert scale questions concerning their opinion of research studies without consent as well as 8 demographic questions. Responses were collapsed to agree and disagree and then analyzed using descriptive statistics with 99% confidence intervals. A total of 65,993 EMS providers received the survey and 23,832 (36%) participated. Most respondents agreed (98.4%, 99%CI: 98.2-98.6) that EMS research is important, but only 30.9% (99%CI: 30.1–31.6) agreed with enrolling patients without their consent when it is important to learn about a new treatment. Only 46.6% (99%...