title: Developing a Canadian emergency medical services research agenda: a baseline study of stakeholder opinions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study forms the first phase in the development of the Canadian National EMS Research Agenda. The purpose was to understand the current state of emergency medical services (EMS) research through the barriers and opportunities perceived by key stakeholders in the Canadian system and to identify the recommendations this group had for moving forward.
  
  
  METHODS
  This qualitative study was conducted in the spring of 2011 using one-on-one semistructured telephone interviews. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit a cross section of EMS research stakeholders, representing a breadth of geographic regions and roles. Data were collected until thematic saturation was reached. A constant comparative approach was used to develop a basic coding framework and identify emerging themes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty stakeholders were invited to participate, and saturation was reached after 13 interviews. Thematic saturation was used to ensure that the findings were grounded in the data. Four major themes were identified: 1) the need for additional research education within EMS; 2) the importance of creating an infrastructure to support pan-Canadian research collaboration; 3) addressing the complexities of involving EMS providers in research; and 4) considerations for a national research agenda.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This hypothesis-generating study reveals key areas regarding EMS research in Canada and through the guidance it provides is a first step in the development of a comprehensive national research agenda. Our intention is to collate the identified themes with the results of a larger roundtable discussion and Delphi survey and, in doing so, guide development of a Canadian national EMS research agenda.
authors: Katie N
authors: KN
authors: Dainty
authors: Jan L
authors: JL
authors: Jensen
authors: Blair L
authors: BL
authors: Bigham
authors: Ian E
authors: IE
authors: Blanchard
authors: Lawrence H
authors: LH
authors: Brown
authors: Alix J E
authors: AJ
authors: Carter
authors: Doug
authors: D
authors: Socha
authors: Laurie J
authors: LJ
authors: Morrison
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D003245:Consensus Statements as Topic; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000379:methods*; D006291:Health Policy; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D036301:Qualitative Research