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Why parents use the emergency department during evening hours for nonemergent pediatric care

Kevin Hummel1, M Jane Mohler2, Conrad J Clemens2

  • 1University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA khummel@email.arizona.edu.

Clinical Pediatrics
|July 4, 2014
PubMed

Insights

Many parents prefer pediatric primary care but use the emergency department (ED) due to limited evening access. Improving primary care availability could reduce nonemergent ED visits for children.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Healthcare
  • Emergency Medicine
  • Health Services Research

Background:

  • Emergency departments (EDs) are frequently utilized by pediatric patients for non-urgent medical needs.
  • Limited data exists on parental perceptions of ED use versus primary care accessibility during evening hours.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate parental perspectives on emergency department (ED) utilization among pediatric patients during evening hours.
  • To understand the role of primary care availability in parental decisions for seeking pediatric care after hours.

Main Methods:

  • A survey was administered to parents of pediatric patients (aged 0-18 years) presenting to a quaternary medical center's ED.
  • Data was collected from patients visiting the ED between 17:00 and 22:00 hours from January 15, 2013, to March 12, 2013.

Main Results:

  • A high percentage of pediatric patients (96.1%) had an existing primary care pediatrician.
  • A significant majority of these pediatricians (80%) lacked evening hour availability.
  • 46.7% of parents indicated a preference for visiting their primary care pediatrician over the ED.

Conclusions:

  • Lack of accessible evening primary care options for children drives parents to seek care at the emergency department (ED).
  • Enhancing primary care accessibility during evening hours may decrease nonemergent pediatric ED visits.
Abstract

Keywords:
emergency department utilizationinappropriate use of health servicespediatric primary careprimary care office utilization

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