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Parental decision-making for non-urgent emergency department presentations in Victoria, Australia
Joy Marbella1, Daniel Terry1,2,3, Blake Peck1,2
1Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Federation University, Ballarat, VIC, Australia.
Insights
Parents often take children to the Emergency Department (ED) for non-urgent issues due to anxiety and perceived inaccessibility of other services. Understanding these parental motivations is key to improving pediatric emergency care.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Emergency Medicine
- Health Services Research
- Qualitative Health Research
Background:
- Non-urgent pediatric Emergency Department (ED) visits contribute to overcrowding and strain healthcare resources.
- Understanding parental decision-making for these visits is crucial for optimizing care.
- Existing health literacy does not deter parents from using EDs for non-urgent pediatric needs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the motivations and decision-making factors influencing parents who present children for non-urgent conditions to the ED.
- To identify key themes driving these parental choices.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative descriptive study design.
- Semi-structured interviews with eight parents presenting children (birth to 14 years) for non-urgent ED visits.
- Purposive sampling to gather relevant experiences.
Main Results:
- Parental decision-making was influenced by three primary themes: Parental Anxiety, the perception that 'There is Only One Place' (the ED), and Mitigating Perceived Delay or Inaccessibility of other services.
- Parents utilized EDs for immediate relief and to manage time-sensitive treatment concerns.
- EDs remain a preferred choice despite participants possessing adequate health literacy.
Conclusions:
- Parental anxiety, ED accessibility, and perceived delays in alternative care significantly influence non-urgent pediatric presentations.
- Models of care within EDs should address parental anxiety and consider integrated or adjacent non-urgent care services.
- Future strategies must acknowledge the ED's role in addressing non-urgent pediatric needs and parental concerns.
Abstract:
Non-urgent paediatric Emergency Department presentations contribute to overcrowding, poor patient health outcomes, and burden acute healthcare services. A study was conducted to explore motivations and factors that influence decision-making processes of parents who presented their child to ED for non-urgent conditions. An exploratory study using a qualitative descriptive design was undertaken to address research aims. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of eight parents who presented their child (birth to 14 years of age), to ED for non-urgent conditions. Parental decision-making regarding ED presentations were influenced by a constellation of factors; however, three main themes emerged. These included Parental Anxiety, There is Only One Place, and Mitigating Perceived Delay or Inaccessibility. As such, centred on how parents addressed their anxiety when a child was ill, accessibility and capacity of EDs to provide immediate relief to parents and children, and parents' perception that accessing other healthcare services impacted crucial time for treatment. EDs remain a preferred healthcare service to address non-urgent paediatric needs, despite adequate health literacy among participants. When improving models of care within EDs, non-urgent presentations must be considered, including management of parental anxiety, along with establishing non-urgent care adjacent to or integrated within an ED.
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