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Usefulness of computerized pediatric motor vehicle safety discharge instructions
Mark R Zonfrillo1, Michael J Mello, Lynne M Palmisciano
1Injury Prevention Center at Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI 02903, USA.
Insights
Providing child motor vehicle safety recommendations on computerized discharge instructions (CDIs) educated parents and led to behavior changes in a small group. This method is a convenient way to improve child-restraint device (CRD) use.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Emergency Medicine
- Public Health
- Traffic Safety
Background:
- Child motor vehicle safety is crucial.
- Child-restraint devices (CRDs) are vital for preventing injuries.
- Effective methods for educating parents on CRD use are needed.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the usefulness of child motor vehicle safety recommendations on computerized discharge instructions (CDIs).
- To determine if these recommendations modified parents' use of child-restraint devices (CRDs).
Main Methods:
- Guardians of children in a pediatric emergency department (ED) were assigned to an intervention or control group.
- The intervention group received CDIs with National Highway Traffic Safety Administration CRD recommendations.
- Both groups were surveyed within four days about CRD knowledge and behavior.
Main Results:
- 57% of the intervention group recalled reading a safety tip, with 82% correctly identifying it as motor vehicle-related.
- 45% of those recalling the tip found it educational.
- 10% of the intervention group reported behavior change regarding child restraint use, compared to 0% in the control group.
Conclusions:
- Computerized discharge instructions (CDIs) are a convenient method for educating parents on motor vehicle safety in pediatric EDs.
- Parents found the CRD information on CDIs to be educational.
- A subset of parents reported behavior changes in CRD use after receiving the information.
Objectives:
To determine whether providing child motor vehicle safety recommendations on computerized discharge instructions (CDIs) were useful to parents and modified their use of child-restraint devices (CRDs).
Methods:
The subjects were guardians of children seen in an urban pediatric emergency department (ED). An intervention group was given computerized ED discharge instructions that included the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommendations for motor vehicle CRDs. A control group was given CDIs without the recommendations. All subjects were subsequently called within four days of the ED visit and asked questions about their knowledge and use of CRDs. They also were queried if the recommendations affected their knowledge or changed their behavior.
Results:
There were 52 subjects in the control group and 58 in the intervention group. Fifty-seven percent of the intervention group remembered reading a safety tip (p < 0.001, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.32 to 0.62), and 82% of that subset correctly identified it pertaining to motor vehicle safety. Forty-five percent (n = 33) of those who remembered the safety recommendation in the intervention group supported it being educational (p = 0.067, 95% CI = 0.28 to 0.64). Ten percent of the subjects in the intervention group said the CDIs changed their behavior regarding buckling-up their child, compared with 0% of the control group (p = 0.473, 95% CI = 0.05 to 0.32).
Conclusions:
Including CRD information on CDIs is a convenient method of educating guardians of patients about motor vehicle safety in a pediatric ED setting. The data suggest that parents find it educational and a smaller subgroup change their behaviors after receiving them.
