Parent escalation of care for the deteriorating child in hospital: A health-care improvement study

Objective: To evaluate the implementation of an intervention for parents to escalate care if concerned about their child's clinical condition. Design: Mixed-methods health-care improvement approach guided by the Theoretical Domains Framework. Methods: Implementation of the ‘Calling for Help’ (C...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gill, Fenella, Leslie, Gavin, Marshall, A.P.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: WILEY 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1092560
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/80079
_version_ 1848764157406478336
author Gill, Fenella
Leslie, Gavin
Marshall, A.P.
author_facet Gill, Fenella
Leslie, Gavin
Marshall, A.P.
author_sort Gill, Fenella
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Objective: To evaluate the implementation of an intervention for parents to escalate care if concerned about their child's clinical condition. Design: Mixed-methods health-care improvement approach guided by the Theoretical Domains Framework. Methods: Implementation of the ‘Calling for Help’ (C4H) intervention was informed by previously identified barriers and facilitators. Evaluation involved audit, review of clinical deterioration incidents, interviews and focus groups. Setting: Australian specialist paediatric hospital. Participants: Convenience sample of 75 parents from inpatient areas during the audit, interviews with ten parents who had expressed concern about their child's clinical condition; five focus groups with 35 ward nurses. Main outcome measures: Parent awareness and utilization of C4H, parent and nurse views of factors influencing implementation. Results: Parent awareness of C4H improved to 35% (25/75). Parent concern was documented prior to 21/174 (12%) clinical deterioration events. All interviewed parents and nurses who participated in focus groups were positive about C4H. Parents preferred to be informed about C4H by nurses, but nurses described this as time-consuming and selectively chose parents who they believed would benefit most. Parents and nurses described frustrations with and trepidation in escalating care. Nurses had used C4H to expedite urgent medical review. Conclusions: There was an improvement in the level of parent awareness of C4H, which was viewed positively by parents and nurses alike. To achieve a high level of parent awareness in a sustainable way, a multifaceted approach is required. Further strategies will be required for parents to feel confident enough to use C4H and to address interprofessional communication barriers.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T11:14:53Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-80079
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T11:14:53Z
publishDate 2019
publisher WILEY
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-800792023-04-05T06:31:20Z Parent escalation of care for the deteriorating child in hospital: A health-care improvement study Gill, Fenella Leslie, Gavin Marshall, A.P. Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Health Care Sciences & Services Health Policy & Services Public, Environmental & Occupational Health clinical deterioration evaluation family involvement implementation paediatric parent concern FAMILY-INITIATED ESCALATION MEDICAL EMERGENCY TEAM PATIENT INTERVENTION PERCEPTIONS ACTIVATION Objective: To evaluate the implementation of an intervention for parents to escalate care if concerned about their child's clinical condition. Design: Mixed-methods health-care improvement approach guided by the Theoretical Domains Framework. Methods: Implementation of the ‘Calling for Help’ (C4H) intervention was informed by previously identified barriers and facilitators. Evaluation involved audit, review of clinical deterioration incidents, interviews and focus groups. Setting: Australian specialist paediatric hospital. Participants: Convenience sample of 75 parents from inpatient areas during the audit, interviews with ten parents who had expressed concern about their child's clinical condition; five focus groups with 35 ward nurses. Main outcome measures: Parent awareness and utilization of C4H, parent and nurse views of factors influencing implementation. Results: Parent awareness of C4H improved to 35% (25/75). Parent concern was documented prior to 21/174 (12%) clinical deterioration events. All interviewed parents and nurses who participated in focus groups were positive about C4H. Parents preferred to be informed about C4H by nurses, but nurses described this as time-consuming and selectively chose parents who they believed would benefit most. Parents and nurses described frustrations with and trepidation in escalating care. Nurses had used C4H to expedite urgent medical review. Conclusions: There was an improvement in the level of parent awareness of C4H, which was viewed positively by parents and nurses alike. To achieve a high level of parent awareness in a sustainable way, a multifaceted approach is required. Further strategies will be required for parents to feel confident enough to use C4H and to address interprofessional communication barriers. 2019 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/80079 10.1111/hex.12938 English http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1092560 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ WILEY fulltext
spellingShingle Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Health Care Sciences & Services
Health Policy & Services
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
clinical deterioration
evaluation
family involvement
implementation
paediatric
parent concern
FAMILY-INITIATED ESCALATION
MEDICAL EMERGENCY TEAM
PATIENT
INTERVENTION
PERCEPTIONS
ACTIVATION
Gill, Fenella
Leslie, Gavin
Marshall, A.P.
Parent escalation of care for the deteriorating child in hospital: A health-care improvement study
title Parent escalation of care for the deteriorating child in hospital: A health-care improvement study
title_full Parent escalation of care for the deteriorating child in hospital: A health-care improvement study
title_fullStr Parent escalation of care for the deteriorating child in hospital: A health-care improvement study
title_full_unstemmed Parent escalation of care for the deteriorating child in hospital: A health-care improvement study
title_short Parent escalation of care for the deteriorating child in hospital: A health-care improvement study
title_sort parent escalation of care for the deteriorating child in hospital: a health-care improvement study
topic Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Health Care Sciences & Services
Health Policy & Services
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
clinical deterioration
evaluation
family involvement
implementation
paediatric
parent concern
FAMILY-INITIATED ESCALATION
MEDICAL EMERGENCY TEAM
PATIENT
INTERVENTION
PERCEPTIONS
ACTIVATION
url http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1092560
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/80079