Why do parents use the emergency department for minor injury and illness? A cross-sectional questionnaire.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To understand decision-making when bringing a child to an emergency department.

Design

A cross-sectional survey of parents attending with children allocated a minor triage category.

Setting

Emergency department in South West England, serving 450,000 people per annum.

Participants

All English-speaking parents/caregivers whose children attended the emergency department and were triaged as minor injury/illness.

Main outcome measures

Parental and child characteristics, injury/illness characteristics, advice seeking behaviour, views regarding emergency department service improvement, GP access and determinants of emergency department use.

Results

In sum, 373 responses were analysed. The majority of attendances were for minor injury, although

SUBMITTER: Ogilvie S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4780204 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature