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Parental involvement in pediatric cardiology outpatient visits
Sudhir Ken Mehta1, Nancy Richards
1Department of Pediatrics and Cardiovascular Center, Fairview Hospital, Cleveland Clinic Health System and Case Western Reserve University, Ohio 44111-5656, USA.
Insights
Mothers are the primary caregivers in pediatric subspecialty care, accompanying children to 64% of cardiology visits. This study highlights the significant role of maternal involvement in children's healthcare journeys.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Healthcare
- Parental Involvement in Medicine
- Subspecialty Care
Background:
- Limited data exists on parental engagement in pediatric subspecialty care.
- Understanding parental presence is crucial for optimizing healthcare delivery.
- Previous research has not extensively detailed the dynamics of parental accompaniment in pediatric cardiology.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze trends in parental involvement during pediatric cardiology visits.
- To quantify the frequency of mothers, fathers, or both parents accompanying children.
- To explore variations in parental presence based on visit type and child's age.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of 3,118 patient visits over a 5-year period.
- Data collected from a pediatric cardiology outpatient setting.
- Categorization of visits based on accompanying parent(s): both parents, mother alone, or father alone.
Main Results:
- Mothers alone accompanied children in 64% of visits, while both parents were present in 29%, and fathers alone in 5%.
- These trends remained consistent across the 5-year study period and for initial consultations.
- Children seen with both parents were significantly younger than those accompanied by a single parent.
Conclusions:
- Mothers are the predominant caregivers attending pediatric subspecialty appointments.
- Findings underscore the critical role of maternal involvement in pediatric cardiology care.
- Results have implications for healthcare education, social support, research, and practice marketing.
Abstract:
There is a lack of information regarding parental involvement in subspecialty care of their offspring. We evaluated trends in 3,118 parental visits, accompanied by their children to a pediatric cardiology office during a 5-year period. Offspring accompanied both parents 29%, mothers alone 64%, and fathers alone 5% of the total visits. The rates were similar for first-time visits and this trend was similar across all 5 years. Children were significantly younger when accompanied by both parents than by individual parents. Mothers play a major role in a child's subspecialty care. Our findings have important educational, social, research, and marketing implications.