title: A content analysis of parents' written communication of needs and expectations for emergency care of their children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We investigated the potential value of information shared by parents on a written form designed to capture needs and expectations for care to an emergency department (ED) system that values patient-centeredness.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a retrospective content analysis of parent-completed written forms collected during an improvement project focused on parent-provider communication in a pediatric ED. The primary outcome was potential value of the completed forms to a patient-centered ED system, defined as a form that was legible, included observations that mapped to medical problems, and included reasonable parental requests. We analyzed variation in potential value and other form attributes across a priori-defined visit type and acuity. Visit type was validated by a separate, blinded medical record review.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A random stratified sample of 1008 forms was established from 6937 parent-completed forms collected during the 6-month improvement project; 995 of 1008 forms had matching medical records; 922 (92.7%) of 995 forms demonstrated potential value; 990 (99.5%) of 995 forms were legible; 948 (95.3%) of 995 forms included observations that mapped to a medical problem, and 599 (93.3%) of 642 forms contained reasonable parental requests. There was good agreement between the form and medical record for visit type (κ = 0.62). The potential value of forms did not vary significantly across visit type (88.2%-92.8%) or acuity (88.9%-93.4%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Information shared by parents on written forms designed to capture needs and expectations provides potential value to a patient-centered ED system. The high level of informational value is consistent across patient type and acuity level.
authors.affiliation: Division of Emergency Medicine, Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York/Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New Hyde Park, NY, USA. ehoppa@gmail.com
authors.forename: Eric Christopher
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Hoppa
authors.forename: Stephen C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Porter
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003142:Communication; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D010290:Parents; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires