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Do parents understand the medical information provided in paediatric emergency departments? A prospective multicenter study
Author(s) -
Chappuy Hélène,
Taupin Pierre,
Dimet Jérôme,
Claessens Yann Erick,
Tréluyer JeanMarc,
Chéron Gerard
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
acta paediatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2012.02763.x
Subject(s) - medicine , seriousness , concordance , emergency department , prospective cohort study , pediatrics , family medicine , multicenter study , emergency medicine , psychiatry , randomized controlled trial , political science , law
Aim: We evaluated the extent to which parents understood the medical information about hospitalization of their child in an emergency department and looked for characteristics likely to increase the risk of poor comprehension. Methods: Prospective multicenter study in thirteen paediatric emergency departments. The parents and doctors completed questionnaires based on closed‐ended questions with a common core of four items: reasons of hospitalization, diagnosis, treatment and seriousness of child condition. We evaluated concordance between parents and doctor answers for these items by comparing their responses. Results: This study included 380 parents. Percentage of concordance was 55% for the reason of hospitalization, 78% for the diagnosis, 92% for the treatment, 48% for the seriousness of the condition and 19% for all four items. The mean number of concordant items was 2.76 (CI 95%, 2.66–2.86). Parents whose children seemed not in pain and parents who received additional information from the nurse showed significantly slightly higher levels of concordance with doctor’s answers (2.98 vs 2.66, p = 0.006 and 2.89 vs 2.60, p = 0.004, respectively). Conclusion: This study shows that improvements are required in the clarity of the information delivered to the parents. The assistance of nurses and optimal pain management may help to improve communication.