Abstract
On the basis of structured interviews with 146 parents, this study describes why and when parents of acutely ill children seek the out-of-hours service, what actions they might have taken beforehand, and their expectations as to the outcome of the consultation. A total of 46% of the parents did not consider their child's condition to be serious, but 12% throught that their child was very ill. Parents sought medical advice because of what they perceived to be a lack of control of the condition (49%), fear of a serious disease (17%), and for symptom relief (34%). All except three parents expected there to be an examination of their child, and 79% expected an explanation or a diagnosis. Only 13% spontaneously mentioned that they expected a prescription. It is clinical and communicative skills that prevail in promoting successful consultations in this setting.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (53.1 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Cockburn J., Pit S. Prescribing behaviour in clinical practice: patients' expectations and doctors' perceptions of patients' expectations--a questionnaire study. BMJ. 1997 Aug 30;315(7107):520–523. doi: 10.1136/bmj.315.7107.520. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Cunningham-Burley S., Irvine S. "And have you done anything so far?" An examination of lay treatment of children's symptoms. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1987 Sep 19;295(6600):700–702. doi: 10.1136/bmj.295.6600.700. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hamm R. M., Hicks R. J., Bemben D. A. Antibiotics and respiratory infections: are patients more satisfied when expectations are met? J Fam Pract. 1996 Jul;43(1):56–62. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Kai J. What worries parents when their preschool children are acutely ill, and why: a qualitative study. BMJ. 1996 Oct 19;313(7063):983–986. doi: 10.1136/bmj.313.7063.983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Macfarlane J., Holmes W., Macfarlane R., Britten N. Influence of patients' expectations on antibiotic management of acute lower respiratory tract illness in general practice: questionnaire study. BMJ. 1997 Nov 8;315(7117):1211–1214. doi: 10.1136/bmj.315.7117.1211. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Walker R. D. Study of out-of-hours visits to children. J R Coll Gen Pract. 1985 Sep;35(278):427–428. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]