title: Parental perception of urgency and utilization of pediatric emergency services.
abstract: Emergency Room utilization has increased dramatically in recent years. Parental perception of urgency may be one factor that influences utilization of pediatric emergency services, yet little is understood about factors influencing this perception. The goal of this study was to determine if the perception of urgency is a critical factor in the decision of a parent to seek care in an emergency room, if demographic and access factors influence parental perception of urgency, and whether there is agreement of urgency rating by parent and physician. One hundred and one parents were interviewed to determine background demographic and access factors and perception of urgency. Physician and parental urgency was evaluated on a 5 level scale. Chi-square analysis was used to determine association between demographic and access factors and parental urgency ratings. Pearson product moment correlation was used to determine agreement between parent and physician urgency ratings. The majority of visits were acknowledged by both parents and physicians to be non-emergent. Fourteen (13.9%) and 10 (9.9%) of parents and physicians rated the visits as emergent (levels 1 and 2) while 65 (64.4%) parents and 76 (75.3%) physicians rated the visits as nonemergent. No association between demographic or access variables and parental perception of urgency was demonstrated.
authors.affiliation: Minneapolis Children's Medical Center, MN 55404.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Braunstein
authors.forename: O C
authors.initials: OC
authors.lastname: Abanobi
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Goldhagen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004630:Emergencies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008910:Minnesota; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010820:Physicians; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors