TY - JOUR T1 - Minor illness and injury: factors influencing attendance at a paediatric accident and emergency department JF - Archives of Disease in Childhood JO - Arch Dis Child SP - 629 LP - 633 DO - 10.1136/adc.2004.049502 VL - 90 IS - 6 AU - S J Hendry AU - T F Beattie AU - D Heaney Y1 - 2005/06/01 UR - http://adc.bmj.com/content/90/6/629.abstract N2 - Aims: To gather information on children with minor illness or injury presenting to a paediatric accident and emergency (A&E) department and the decision making process leading to their attendance. Methods: Prospective questionnaire based survey of 465 children selected by systematic sampling from A&E attenders allocated to the lowest triage category. Results: The study population was statistically representative of the total population of A&E attenders. The lower deprivation categories were over represented. Educational attainment, childcare experience, and parental coping skills were important in relation to A&E attendance. More children attended with injury as opposed to illness. There were no significant demographic differences between those children who presented directly to A&E and those who made prior contact with a GP. Just under half the study population had made contact with a general practitioner (GP) before attending A&E. The majority of those children were directly referred to A&E at that point. GPs referred equivalent numbers of children with illness and injury. Conclusions: Parents and GPs view paediatric A&E departments as an appropriate place to seek treatment for children with minor illness or injury. ER -