They will be given the opportunity to add new CDM instances, and provide additional free-text comments. On the third round, the mean rankings for each instance of CDM and the respondents own response will be available for the individual participants’ review (i.e., each participant will see their own responses, and all will see the group mean responses). As the investigators will be returning each respondents scoring on each item from the previous round to them, along with the mean score from Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the group, the responses cannot be anonymous to the investigators. On the third round and possibly next round, participants can revise their ranking for any of the CDM instances, based
on viewing the group mean and their own score. The survey will be re-sent until this consensus is achieved, to a maximum of four rounds. This limit will be instituted to avoid sample fatigue. Data Analysis It is essential to define the meaning of ‘consensus’ a priori [19]. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical For this study, consensus for each CDM item will
be set at 80% or more of respondents grading it as 4 (Important – in most instances these decisions will impact patient clinical outcome or patient safety), or, 5 (Extremely important -very likely to impact patient clinical outcome or patient safety). Once an item has reached this level of consensus, it will be removed from the list and not appear for re-ranking in subsequent rounds. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Data will be entered into the statistical software program SPSS. Agreement Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical will be measured between the paramedic and medical director respondents using concordance statistics (kappa scores) and t-tests. Response rate for each round will be reported, as well as descriptive statistics Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of the panel demographics. The free text additional comments from each round will be analyzed using qualitative analysis software after the final round. The findings of the thematic analysis of the free text will be used to give context to the Delphi findings. The instances of paramedic CDM that are found to
be important to clinical outcome and patient safety will be plotted onto a process analysis map. This map will be sent to the panel members for comment at the end of the study. Pilot Study A pilot study has been conducted. Three Quisinostat cost paramedics and two emergency physicians, one of whom is a study investigator (AT) completed Levetiracetam three rounds. The online surveys were edited based on pilot participant feedback. No results from the pilot will be used in the actual study. Discussion This study will provide insight into the most important clinical decisions paramedics make during high acuity emergency calls. The implications for such knowledge include exposing research and education gaps, establishing priorities for paramedic practice, and providing direction for professional development and patient safety initiatives in the EMS setting.