· After A review of the current literature regarding  the challenges faced by many hospital systems as a result of emergency department overcrowding, a qualitative study of by means of a written questionnaire to determine factors or potential factors that influence a health care consumers decision to access care at an emergency room.             As the population ages emergency departments will continue to experience overcrowding from many factors, among them overutilization due patients seeking non-urgent care. Increased use of emergency departments In terms of financial viability it will be essential to understand factors affecting how patients perceive their medical condition, and further the accessibility to the appropriate level of care. The purpose of this study is to determine and evaluate the factors that contribute to the overutilization of emergency departments for non-urgent needs.             The study is targeted to patients in a rural North Carolina county with approximately 26,000 residents. Study participants will be those seen in the local emergency department that averages 1300 visits per month. Each participant will be required to complete a consent form and provide demographic data. Organizational approval for this study will be obtained at the facility level from the Assistant Vice President for the facility. Additionally. The Institutional Review Board (IRB) consent must be obtained. During the data collection process, the surveyor will approach each participant separately and seek their consent for participation in the survey. During this encounter, the survey will collect the appropriate demographic information. Participant's names will not be disclosed in an attempt to preserve their anonymity Introduction: My name is Teresa Cochran. I am a Director of Nursing and also a graduate student seeking a Master’s in Business Administration. I am currently completing a survey of factors that contribute to patient’s utilization of Emergency Services and I would like to ask you a few questions. Questionnaire I. 1. What is the reason for your visit to the Emergency Department today? a. Chest pain b. Accident c. Respiratory distress d. Diarrhea/vomiting e. Other _____________________________________ 2. How many times per year do you come to the Emergency Department? a. 0-2 b. 3-5 c. 6-8 d. >9 3. What, if any of the following factors may influence your decision to come to the Emergency Department: a. No available appointment at primary care b. Second opinion c. Receive better care in ED than at doctor’s office d. No transportation e. Convenience f. Other___________ 4. Do you have a doctor you see on a regular basis? a. Yes b. No 5. How many times do see your doctor per year? 6. 0-2 7. 3-5 8. 6-8 9. > 9 10. Before you came to the ED did you call your primary care physician? Why or Why not? 11. What prevents you from getting health care at your primary care provider? 12. What is your age? Gender? 13. Employment statu.

1. ·
After A review of the current literature regarding the
challenges faced by many hospital systems as a result of
emergency department overcrowding, a qualitative study of by
means of a written questionnaire to determine factors or
potential factors that influence a health care consumers decision
to access care at an emergency room.
As the population ages emergency departments will
continue to experience overcrowding from many factors, among
them overutilization due patients seeking non-urgent care.
Increased use of emergency departments In terms of financial
viability it will be essential to understand factors affecting how
patients perceive their medical condition, and further the
accessibility to the appropriate level of care. The purpose of
this study is to determine and evaluate the factors that
contribute to the overutilization of emergency departments for
non-urgent needs.
The study is targeted to patients in a rural North
Carolina county with approximately 26,000 residents. Study
participants will be those seen in the local emergency
department that averages 1300 visits per month. Each
participant will be required to complete a consent form and
provide demographic data. Organizational approval for this
study will be obtained at the facility level from the Assistant
Vice President for the facility. Additionally. The Institutional
Review Board (IRB) consent must be obtained.
During the data collection process, the surveyor will approach
each participant separately and seek their consent for
participation in the survey. During this encounter, the survey
will collect the appropriate demographic information.
Participant's names will not be disclosed in an attempt to
preserve their anonymity
Introduction: My name is Teresa Cochran. I am a Director of

2. Nursing and also a graduate student seeking a Master’s in
Business Administration. I am currently completing a survey of
factors that contribute to patient’s utilization of Emergency
Services and I would like to ask you a few questions.
Questionnaire
I.
1. What is the reason for your visit to the Emergency
Department today?
a. Chest pain
b. Accident
c. Respiratory distress
d. Diarrhea/vomiting
e. Other _____________________________________
2. How many times per year do you come to the Emergency
Department?
a. 0-2
b. 3-5
c. 6-8
d. >9
3. What, if any of the following factors may influence your
decision to come to the Emergency Department:
a. No available appointment at primary care
b. Second opinion
c. Receive better care in ED than at doctor’s office
d. No transportation
e. Convenience
f. Other___________
4. Do you have a doctor you see on a regular basis?
a. Yes

3. b. No
5. How many times do see your doctor per year?
6. 0-2
7. 3-5
8. 6-8
9. > 9
10. Before you came to the ED did you call your primary care
physician? Why or Why not?
11. What prevents you from getting health care at your primary
care provider?
12. What is your age? Gender?
13. Employment status?
14. Do you have insurance?
Question 2
Correct Answer:
[None]
Response Feedback:
[None Given]
· Question 2

4. 50 out of 50 points
Evaluate each question that you included in the questionnaire.
Explain how the question will help meet the objectives of the
research. Please be specific and provide justification.
Your response should be at least 200 words in length, unless
otherwise specified. You are required to use at least your
textbook as source material for your response. All sources used,
including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and
quoted material must have accompanying citations.
Selected Answer:
1. What is the reason for your visit to the Emergency
Department today?
I began with this question to provide the respondent to in order
to be specific about the data being collected and is easy for the
respondent to answer (Zikmund, 2013) This also allows for
funneling of information to information. The respondent will
know the topic of discussion and and will allow for researcher
to understand the respondents before asking more specific
questions about the level of the respondent's information and
theintentsity of his or her opinion (Zikmund, 2013)
2. How many times per year do you come to the Emergency
Department?
This question is designed to determine utilization rates in order
to narrow to more specific data related to a frequency
determination assessment. A fixed- determinant serves to ask a
question about the general frequency of occurrence (Zikmund,
2013).

5. 3. What if any of the following factors may influence your
decision to come to the Emergency Department ?
This question is a type of checklist question that allows the
respondent to provide multiple answers to a single
question (Zikmund, 2013). In order for this research to be
effective it is important to categorize influencing factors.
However, a limitation of this type of question is the list
provided must be totally exhaustive and mutually exclusive. As
stated by (Zikmund, 2013) a category exhibits for every
respondent among the fixed-alternative categories and further,
no overlap exists among the fixed alternative categories.
4. Do you have a doctor you see on a regular basis?
This question would serve to help sort patients into categories
by use of simple-dichotomy question, forcing a choice of one or
two alternatives (Zikmund, 2013).
5. How many times do see your doctor per year?
This is another question designed to determine frequency of
utilization of primary care physician if the respondent has one
to correlate a possible dependent relationship between the
variables of the respondents who have primary care thus utilize
fewer ED visits.
6. Before you came to the ED did you call your primary care
physician? Why or Why not?
7. What prevents you from getting health care at your primary
care provider?
Questions 6 & 7 are designed as open ended response. Given the
setting of the survey being administered as an interview, this
would allow the respondent to answer in their own words and
allow for more probative questions by the interviewer based on
the responses.
Questions 8,9,&10 are demographic questions used for further
stratification of respondents. They are asked at the end of the
survey in order to not embarrass or threaten respondents. As
stated by (Zikmund, 2013), Asking these questions at the end
of the questionaire usually is better, after rapport has been

6. established between respondent and interviewer.
References
Zikmund, W. (2013). Business research methods. Mason, OH:
South-Western.
Correct Answer:
[None]
Response Feedback:
[None Given]
Friday, January 22, 2016 9:20:38 PM CST