79 Geriatric education of Dutch emergency physicians CHAPTER 4 Data analysis Descriptive statistics were used to summarize item responses. Statistical analyses are described in detail in Supplement 3 and shortly described in the table notes. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS Version 25 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL). Statistical significance was set at P <0.05 in two-tailed tests. Non-responder bias was assessed by comparing respondents’ and non- respondents’ characteristics regarding gender, the geographic location of hospitals they were working in in terms of population density (number of inhabitants per 1 km2) and aged population (percentage of population older than 65 years). Results Survey among emergency physicians Participant characteristics Of 503 EPs contacted, 38 were not eligible and 275 did not respond. The final sample consisted of 190 questionnaires available for analysis (response rate: 37.8%). Participants did not always respond to all questions: 157 (82.6 %) had no missing values (figure 1). The majority of respondents were female (62.1%) were female and had a mean age of 40.1 years (SD 5.6). Seventeen respondents (8.9%) had an employment in an academic hospital. The majority of the respondents (63.2%) stated that there was a possibility of consulting a geriatrician in their ED. Respondents had a mean of 6.3 years (SD 4.0) of working experience as an EP. The majority of respondents had a part-time employment, with a mean full-time equivalent of 0.9 (SD 0.1). Respondents estimated that about 31.5 patients (SD 18.3) out of the 86.9 patients (SD 32.8) they treat on average in a week, had an age of 70 years or older. More than fifty percent of respondents (57.6%) estimated that 10-30% of patients aged 70 years or older at the EDwas overdiagnosed or overtreated (table 1). Responder and non-responder groups were significantly different in sex: female EPs were overrepresented in the group of non-respondents (70.6% vs. 62.1%, p= 0.031). No significant differences were found between respondents and non-respondents regarding population density and aged population in the municipality in which the EP was employed. Educational needs of emergency physicians About a quarter of the respondents (27%) reported no need for more skills to better recognize geriatric problems. Almost half of the respondents (48%) stated that they need more skills to determine the right diagnostic approach for older adults, while only 16% responded no need for more skills to better treat older
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