Children accessing accident and emergency department for non-urgent consultations: A cross-sectional study about parents’ use of primary care services

Introduction

Parents often take their children to the Paediatric Accident and Emergency Department (A&E) for non-urgent consultations rather than using community-based primary care services. This study describes the use of primary care services in parents taking their children to the A&E for non-urgent consultations.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2018 to June 2019, in a second-level Italian paediatric A&E of a tertiary-level children’s academic research and hub hospital. Parents of children aged between 3 months and 6 years assigned with a white code at the triage were asked to complete a paper-and-pencil 40-item questionnaire after accessing the A&E for a non-urgent consultation.

Results

The questionnaire was completed by the parents of 237 children (males 58 %; median age = 2.3 years). Overall, 48.1 % (n = 114) of the parents reported consulting ‘often/always’ the primary care paediatrician, mainly when their child was sick and for check-ups (n = 182, 76.8 %). However, only 7.2 % (n = 17) of the parents ‘often/always’ used any other health service in the community. Most of them (n = 191, 82 %) did not even know where the community health centre was located.

Conclusion

Parents accessing the A&E for non-urgent consultations should be better informed/educated on how to use community health services.