Perceptions of Parents of Children Admitted to the Emergency Room and of Doctors Regarding the Urgency of Situation and the Factors Affecting Perceptions

Abstract

Aim: In our study involving children who were presented to the emergency service, we investigated the parents’ and physicians’ perception of urgency.Materials and Methods: The study was performed on physicians and on families of pediatric patients who were admitted to the Children’s Emergency Department between April 2011 and 2012. Families and Physicians were asked to fill out a questionnaire about the emergency status of their children.Results: A total of 61.1% of parents (n=1081) who presented their children to the emergency service declared that their children must be seen by a physician in 15 min. Of them, 56.2% (n=994) reported more than 12 h had passed since the complaints of their children started. Only 3.7% of parents (n=67) stated that they visited the emergency department because of a real emergency status. A total of 36.6% of parents (n=647) mentioned that they preferred to visit the emergency service because they work during the day, and 40.6% of parents (n=719) preferred to visit the emergency service because outpatient clinics are crowded during the day. Physicians reported that the examination of 64.2% of patients (n=1137) could be safely postponed to the next day.Conclusion: The method to provide health services to those patients in real need in the emergency room is to raise awareness in the society. We believe that training courses given at primary healthcare services could reduce inappropriate visits to the emergency service.

Keywords

• Emergency service
• parental perception
• urgency of disease