Background: This study compared patient experiences of care provided by emergency care practitioners (ECPs) and usual providers in different emergency and urgent care settings.
Methods: A self-completed postal questionnaire study as part of a pragmatic quasi experimental trial in five paired sites with intervention (ECP) services matched with control (usual provider) services.
Results: A greater percentage of ECP patients reported being very satisfied with overall care in all five pairs of sites. In three pairs, these percentage differences were statistically significant.
Conclusions: Users of ECP services were more likely to be highly satisfied with overall care than usual provider patients in the study settings.
Keywords: paramedics, extended roles; prehospital care; prehospital care, advanced practitioner.
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