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Measuring the financial and productivity burden of paediatric hospitalisation on the wider family network
Author(s) -
Mumford Virginia,
Baysari Melissa T,
Kalinin Djala,
Raban Magdalena Z,
McCullagh Cheryl,
Kar Jonathon,
Westbrook Johanna I
Publication year - 2018
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.13923
Subject(s) - medicine , productivity , accommodation , pediatrics , child care , demography , family medicine , finance , macroeconomics , neuroscience , sociology , economics , biology
Aim To estimate the non‐medical out‐of‐pocket costs for families with a child in hospital. Methods This study was a survey of 225 parents of paediatric inpatients on nine wards of an Australian public paediatric teaching hospital on two separate days. Our primary outcomes were the costs associated with: (i) time taken off work to care for the child in hospital; (ii) time off work or contributed by family and friends to care for other dependents; and (iii) travel, meals, accommodation and incidental expenses during the child's stay. Demographic data included postcode (to assess distance, socio‐economic status and remoteness), child's age, ward and whether this was their child's first admission. Results Mean patient age was 6.5 years (standard deviation 5.2). On an average per patient day basis, parents took 1.12 days off work and spent 0.61 (standard deviation 0.53) nights away from home, with 83.8% of nights away at the child's bedside. Parents spent Australian dollars (AUD)89 per day on travel and AUD36 on meals and accommodation. Total costs (including productivity costs) were AUD589 per patient day. Higher costs per patient day were correlated with living in a more remote area (0.48) and a greater travel distance to the hospital (0.41). A higher number of days off work was correlated (0.69) with number of school days missed. Conclusion These results demonstrate the considerable time and financial resources expended by families caring for a child in hospital and are important inputs in evaluating health‐care interventions that affect risk of hospitalisation and length of stay in paediatric care.