A qualitative systematic review of the reasons for parental attendance at the emergency department with children presenting with minor illness

Introduction: Over 5 million children attend the Emergency Department (ED) annually in England with an ever-increasing paediatric emergency caseload echoed globally. Approximately 60% of children present with illness and the majority have non-urgent illness creating burgeoning pressures on children’...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Butun, Ahmet, Hemingway, Pippa
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44011/
_version_ 1848796816465723392
author Butun, Ahmet
Hemingway, Pippa
author_facet Butun, Ahmet
Hemingway, Pippa
author_sort Butun, Ahmet
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Introduction: Over 5 million children attend the Emergency Department (ED) annually in England with an ever-increasing paediatric emergency caseload echoed globally. Approximately 60% of children present with illness and the majority have non-urgent illness creating burgeoning pressures on children’s ED and this crisis resonates globally. To date no qualitative systematic review exists that focuses on the parental reasons for childhood attendance at the ED in this subgroup. Aim: To identify parental reasons for attending ED for their children presenting with minor illness. Method: A qualitative systematic review was conducted against inclusion/exclusion 10 criteria. Five electronic databases and key journals were searched in June 2015. Findings: 471 studies were identified and following study selection, 4 qualitative studies 12 were included. Nine themes were identified e.g. dissatisfaction with family medical services, perceived advantages of ED and ‘child suffering’ with novel and insightful sub-themes of ‘hereditary anxiety’, ‘taking it off our hands’, ED as a ‘magical place’. Conclusion: This novel qualitative systematic review examined parental attendance presenting with childhood minor illness of interest to emergency care reformers and clinicians. ED attendance is complex and multifactorial but parents provide vital insight to ED reformers on parental reasons for ED attendance in this sub group.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T19:54:00Z
format Article
id nottingham-44011
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T19:54:00Z
publishDate 2017
publisher Elsevier
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-440112020-05-04T18:58:25Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44011/ A qualitative systematic review of the reasons for parental attendance at the emergency department with children presenting with minor illness Butun, Ahmet Hemingway, Pippa Introduction: Over 5 million children attend the Emergency Department (ED) annually in England with an ever-increasing paediatric emergency caseload echoed globally. Approximately 60% of children present with illness and the majority have non-urgent illness creating burgeoning pressures on children’s ED and this crisis resonates globally. To date no qualitative systematic review exists that focuses on the parental reasons for childhood attendance at the ED in this subgroup. Aim: To identify parental reasons for attending ED for their children presenting with minor illness. Method: A qualitative systematic review was conducted against inclusion/exclusion 10 criteria. Five electronic databases and key journals were searched in June 2015. Findings: 471 studies were identified and following study selection, 4 qualitative studies 12 were included. Nine themes were identified e.g. dissatisfaction with family medical services, perceived advantages of ED and ‘child suffering’ with novel and insightful sub-themes of ‘hereditary anxiety’, ‘taking it off our hands’, ED as a ‘magical place’. Conclusion: This novel qualitative systematic review examined parental attendance presenting with childhood minor illness of interest to emergency care reformers and clinicians. ED attendance is complex and multifactorial but parents provide vital insight to ED reformers on parental reasons for ED attendance in this sub group. Elsevier 2017-08-01 Article PeerReviewed Butun, Ahmet and Hemingway, Pippa (2017) A qualitative systematic review of the reasons for parental attendance at the emergency department with children presenting with minor illness. International Emergency Nursing . ISSN 1878-013X (In Press) Parental reasons; Minor illness; Non-urgent; Attendance at ED; ED utilisation; Qualitative studies http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1755599X16302221 doi:10.1016/j.ienj.2017.07.002 doi:10.1016/j.ienj.2017.07.002
spellingShingle Parental reasons; Minor illness; Non-urgent; Attendance at ED; ED utilisation; Qualitative studies
Butun, Ahmet
Hemingway, Pippa
A qualitative systematic review of the reasons for parental attendance at the emergency department with children presenting with minor illness
title A qualitative systematic review of the reasons for parental attendance at the emergency department with children presenting with minor illness
title_full A qualitative systematic review of the reasons for parental attendance at the emergency department with children presenting with minor illness
title_fullStr A qualitative systematic review of the reasons for parental attendance at the emergency department with children presenting with minor illness
title_full_unstemmed A qualitative systematic review of the reasons for parental attendance at the emergency department with children presenting with minor illness
title_short A qualitative systematic review of the reasons for parental attendance at the emergency department with children presenting with minor illness
title_sort qualitative systematic review of the reasons for parental attendance at the emergency department with children presenting with minor illness
topic Parental reasons; Minor illness; Non-urgent; Attendance at ED; ED utilisation; Qualitative studies
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44011/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44011/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44011/