Introduction: Emergency department usage for non-urgent care has been identified as an issue worldwide. Many health professionals have an opinion as to why parents seek care for their children at an emergency department. In Australia, although it is known that there is increasing usage of paediatric emergency departments for non-urgent care; there is a paucity of research on the reasons for this high usage. Aim: This study aims to provide a better understanding of the motivations and actions of parents of children with non-urgent injury or illness who attend the emergency department (PED) at a tertiary paediatric hospital seeking care. Method: This study was designed as a cross sectional descriptive survey to ascertain information fiom parents about their care-giving and care-seeking behaviours prior to presenting with their child to the paediatric emergency department (PED) for professional assessment and treatment. Demographic characteristics were compared with those of the general population to ensure representativeness. Results: A total of 355 parents were surveyed in the three-month period between May and July 2005. This represented 8% of the parents/carers who had presented to the PED for nonurgent (Australian Triage Score Category 4 and 5) care of their child. Just over half of the children presenting were male (185 (53%)) with an overall mean age of 5.45 years (*SD 4.25). The factors the study identified as seminal as to why parents sought care for their child at the paediatric emergency department are that parents rated their child's condition as moderate to very serious (242 (68%)) and that two thirds of parents (234 (66%)) had sought advice prior to attending PED. Other pertinent factors identified were that 54% of children attended with an injury (137) presented promptly to PED (i-e. within four hours of injury) whereas of those presenting with illness (88 (41.3%)) presented within two to seven days of the onset of the illness. The majority of children attended with an illness (213 (60%)) and of these, 98% had medication administered prior to presentation to PED. The presenting child was most likely to be the youngest sibling. Conclusions: The results of the study highlight the accuracy of 'parental triage', that is that parents assess their child's health, and generally engage in appropriate care-giving and careseeking behaviours before presenting to paediatric PED. This study highlights the deficiencies in current primary care services available to families and the perception that not all cases deemed as non-urgent by the emergency department are able to be dealt with in a primary care setting. In recognising that presentation is multifactorial, an issue that needs to be addressed is that there will always be non-urgent presentations at the paediatric emergency department and service delivery and W i g models need further development to address the increasing paediatric requirements for care. In identifying these multiple factors, this study will provide a solid base for future planning within paediatric hospitals, the emergency department setting and in provision of care in the community.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/253487 |
| Creators | Williams, Lesley Alison |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Detected Language | English |
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