The opinions of medical personnel about the parental participation during the pediatric transport: Survey study in Izmir

Abstract

Objective: In this study, we aimed to determine the opinions of medical personnel towards the parental participation during the pediatric transport and to investigate factors that affect those opinions.
Methods: This study was designed as a descriptive study and was conducted in the emergency departments and 112 (Emergency Medical Services) units of three provincial hospitals in Izmir. 70 medical personnel recruited in these units between February-June 2008 composed the study sample. The data were collected with questionnaire forms designed by the researchers compiling socio-demographic data and a specially designed form with the purpose of carrying out an analysis on the personnel’s opinions towards the parental participation during the pediatric transport.
Results: When the medical personnel were asked about their opinions about the parental participation in the transport, 71.4% of the participants responded that the parents were not ready to participate in the transport. The 57.1% of the personnel responded as “no” to the question “Should the parents accompany the pediatric transport when the patient is in a critical condition?” The reasons given for this answer were that; the parents lived through the process together with the child (25.9%), that the parents were in panic (22.2%), and they made it difficult to perform medical interventions (14.8%) and therefore shouldn’t be allowed to accompany children during the transport.
Conclusions: Our study data illustrated that the medical personnel don’t wholeheartedly support parental participation during the transport of pediatric patients.