BRIEF-REPORT

Short report

Making choices: why parents present to the emergency department for non-urgent care

A Williams¹, P O’Rourke², S Keogh¹

¹ Nursing Research Unit, Royal Children’s Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
² Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

^{Correspondence to} Ms A Williams, Nursing Research, Ground Floor, North Tower, Royal Children’s Hospital, Herston Road, Herston 4029, Queensland, Australia; alison_williams{at}health.qld.gov.au

Objectives: This study aims to provide a better understanding of the motivations and actions of parents of children with non-urgent injury or illness who attend the emergency department at a tertiary paediatric hospital seeking care.

Design: A prospective questionnaire-based survey of 355 parents aimed to ascertain information about parent care-giving and care-seeking behaviours prior to presentation at the emergency department with their child.

Results: A total of 355 parents were surveyed, representing 8% of the parents/carers presenting to the emergency department in a 3-month period for non-urgent (Australasian Triage System 4 and 5) care of their child. The factors identified were: parents rated their child’s condition as moderate to very serious (242 (68%)); two-thirds of parents (234 (66%)) had sought advice prior to attending the emergency department; 54% (77) of the 137 children who attended with an injury presented promptly to emergency (ie, within 4 h of injury) whereas of the 216 presenting with an illness, 41% (88) presented within 2–7 days of the onset of the illness.

Conclusions: This study displayed the accuracy of "parental triage," that is, parents assess their child’s health and generally engage in appropriate care-giving and care-seeking behaviours before presenting to a paediatric emergency department. Highlighted are the deficiencies in current primary care services available to families and the perception that not all cases deemed as non-urgent by the emergency department are able to be dealt with in a primary care setting.

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