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Children's and adolescents' experiences of healthcare professionals: scoping review protocol
Gail Davison1, Martina Ann Kelly2, Andrew Thompson3
1Centre for Medical Education, Queen's University Belfast, Mulhouse Building, Mulhouse Road, Belfast, BT12 6DP, Northern Ireland. gdavison05@qub.ac.uk.
Insights
This review explores how children and adolescents experience healthcare professionals (HCPs), highlighting communication gaps. Understanding these patient experiences will help HCPs improve care and patient involvement.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Healthcare
- Patient Experience Research
- Qualitative Health Research
Background:
- Children and adolescents are an under-represented patient group in research.
- Healthcare professionals' (HCPs) communication with young patients is often inadequate, leading to disengagement.
- HCP interactions significantly impact pediatric patient experiences, potentially affecting clinical outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the lived experiences of children and adolescents with healthcare professionals (HCPs).
- To deepen the understanding of patient-provider interactions in pediatric care.
- To inform HCPs on how to provide care that better meets young patients' needs.
Main Methods:
- A comprehensive scoping review using a six-step framework.
- Systematic mapping of existing published literature.
- Thematic analysis of direct quotations from children and adolescents, supplemented by patient consultations.
Main Results:
- Synthesis of children's and adolescents' direct quotations on their experiences with HCPs.
- Identification of key themes in patient-provider interactions.
- Inclusion of exemplar quotations and consultation comments to illustrate findings.
Conclusions:
- This review uniquely presents synthesized lived experiences of pediatric patients with HCPs.
- Findings will guide HCPs in refining interpersonal skills for improved patient-centered care.
- Implications for clinical educators, policymakers, and future research in pediatric healthcare.
Background:
Children and adolescents form a distinct patient group, whose experiences are relatively under-represented in research. Surveys have shown that healthcare professionals (HCPs) do not always communicate with them well, leaving children and adolescents under-involved and unsure who to ask when concerned. Recent qualitative studies have recognised that HCPs have a major influence on children's and adolescents' experiences, where poorer interactions can lead to fear, missed appointments and potentially a worse clinical outcome. Little is known about how children and adolescents experience the HCPs who play such an integral role in their healthcare. This review aims to explore children's and adolescents' lived experience of HCPs, so that a deeper understanding of the interactions between them can equip HCPs to provide care that better aligns with patients' needs.
Method:
This study will use scoping review methodology to map the existing published literature comprehensively and systematically, following a six-step framework. It will extract children's and adolescents' experiences, in the form of direct quotations, and thematically analyse them. The consultation exercise with children and adolescents will gather additional insights. Findings will consist of descriptions of each theme along with exemplar quotations and consultation comments.
Discussion:
This scoping review is unique, as it will present children's and adolescents' lived experiences of HCPs, from synthesis of their direct quotations. Findings will assist HCPs to tailor their interpersonal skills to meet patients' needs so that better healthcare can be provided. This study will have implications for clinical educators, policy makers and guideline developers and provide suggestions for further research.
Systematic Review Registration:
Not registered.
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