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Improving delivery of health care to A boriginal and T orres S trait I slander children
Author(s) -
Attwood Lucy,
Rodrigues Sarah,
Winsor Josephine,
Warren Shirley,
Biviano Lyn,
Gunasekera Hasantha
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of paediatrics and child health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.631
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1440-1754
pISSN - 1034-4810
DOI - 10.1111/jpc.12756
Subject(s) - medicine , documentation , decile , trait , family medicine , disadvantaged , pediatrics , statistics , mathematics , computer science , political science , law , programming language
Aim To identify opportunities to improve health‐care delivery for urban A boriginal and T orres S trait I slander children requiring hospital admission and to determine their characteristics. Methods We analysed all documentation of admissions of A boriginal and/or T orres S trait I slander children to a tertiary paediatric hospital in 2010. We reviewed the medical records to determine whether the A boriginal status of patients was known, whether A boriginal and/or T orres S trait I slander children and their families were reviewed by A boriginal staff during admission and whether basic health‐care quality indicators were met, including documentation of anthropometry, ear examination findings, immunisation status and catch‐up immunisation delivery.Results In 2010, 543 (2%) patients admitted to the institution were identified as A boriginal and/or T orres S trait I slander: 140/538 (26.0%) were from the first decile (most disadvantaged) on S ocio‐ E conomic I ndexes for A reas index. Of all admitted children, 148/543 (27.3%) were referred to A boriginal health professionals during admission, more when length of stay was greater than 7 days (61% vs. 23%, P < 0.001). There was documentation of weight in 533/543 (98.2%), ear examinations in 64/543 (11.8%), immunisations being not up to date in 126/543 (23%), catch‐up immunisation given in 7/126 (5.6%), A boriginal and/or T orres S trait I slander status in 8/543 (1.5%) medical and 1/543 (0.2%) nursing discharge summaries. Conclusions We have identified several opportunities to improve culturally appropriate health‐care delivery for A boriginal and T orres S trait I slander children admitted to hospital, including improved recognition of A boriginal and/or T orres S trait I slander status of patients, improved access to A boriginal health professionals and increased performance and documentation of basic anthropometry, ear examination and immunisation catch‐up.