Paediatric patients who access the emergency department for non-urgent visits and use of community services

Introduction: Overcrowding in emergency departments, often due to the high number of patients who access for non-urgent visits, leads to serious problems concerning also the quality of care. Aim: To investigate if and how parents who access a second level Emergency Department for non-urgent pediatric visits use community services. Methods: From 11 July to 16 September 2018 a 40-item paper and pencil questionnaire was administered to parents of children aged 0 to 6 years who received a non-urgent code for access to the Emergency Department. Results: Parents of 83 patients (males=62.7%, mean age=2 years±1.77) were enrolled. Most of them accessed the emergency departments because of their child's fever (n=31, 21.8%), for symptoms occurred more than 24 hours before (n=51, 61.4%). Most participants reported to consult sometimes/always the family pediatrician (n=72, 86.8%) but to hardly ever/never use the other health services available in the community. Parents need to receive more education regarding the management on the most typical symptoms in children, such as fever and skin rashes, or some minor frequent treatments. Conclusions: Parents who access the Emergency Department for non-urgent visits rarely use or know the community health services, which could help them in managing their child's health conditions.