title: Is my child sick? Parents' management of signs of illness and experiences of the medical encounter: parents of recurrently sick children urge for more cooperation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Parents of sick children frequently visit their general practitioners (GPs). The aim was to explore parents' interpretation of their child's incipient signs and symptoms when falling ill and their subsequent unsatisfactory experience with the GP in order to make suggestions for improvements in the medical encounter.
  
  
  METHODS
  Semi-structured interviews.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty strategically selected families with a child from a birth cohort in Frederiksborg County, Denmark were interviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Parents wanted to consult their GP at the right time, i.e. neither too early nor too late. Well-educated parents experienced a discrepancy between their knowledge about their child, the information they had sought about the illness and the consultation with the GP, when they were dismissed with phrases such as "it will disappear" or "it is just a virus". The parents went along with the GP's advice if the child only occasionally became sick. However, parents of children with recurrent illnesses seemed very frustrated. During the course of several consultations with their GP, they started to question the GP's competence as the child did not regain health.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Parents want to be acknowledged as competent collaborators. The GP's failure to acknowledge the parents' knowledge of their child's current illness, and the parents' attempt to identify what is wrong with the child and make the child feel better before the encounter may have consequences for the GP's credibility. It is therefore recommended that parents of children with recurrent illnesses receive extra attention and information.
authors.affiliation: The Research Unit and Department of General Practice, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, Copenhagen, Denmark. ruth.ertmann@dadlnet.dk
authors.forename: Ruth K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Ertmann
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reventlow
authors.forename: Margareta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Söderström
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services; D002983:Clinical Competence; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D003718:Denmark; D005194:Family Practice; D058006:General Practice; D006801:Humans; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D012008:Recurrence; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires