Analysis and comparison of research abstracts at AAMS, 1987–1990

Abstract

Purpose: To characterize the type and quality of research presented at the annual meeting of the Association of Air Medical Services (AAMS) from 1987–1990. Methods: All AAMS research abstracts published in the conference proceedings of The Journal of Air Medical Transport (JAMT) for the years 1987–1990 were reviewed by a single reviewer and assigned to categories of research design, sampling method, type of conclusions, and presence of a stated purpose. Index Medicus and JAMT were searched by the author's name for publications. Telephone follow-up was attempted for each paper to determine if a manuscript had been written. Results: One hundred eighty-nine out of 312 (61%) of the abstracts had an identifiable research question. The majority (80%) of research was observational and utilized convenience sampling. This did not improve over time. Only 26% of the conclusions in 1987 were valid; this improved to 53% in 1990. Eighteen percent of the abstracts have been published, 11% have a manuscript prepared, and 71% have no manuscript. Conclusions: The research at AAMS from 1987 to 1990 has been of fair quality and has been showing some improvement. Further improvement is necessary and may be accomplished by education in research design, methodologies, and conclusion formulation.