Philadelphia, Pa. In a change in practice at one large pediatric hospital system, parents are now routinely asked if they wish to accompany their children on an ambulance trip between two hospitals. The change reflects recent studies of parent experiences and attitudes by an emergency physician at The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, which showed that far more parents felt reassured after accompanying their children on ambulance transports, compared to parents who did not ride with their children.
A companion study, surveying transport team managers throughout the United States, found no consensus among providers on the desirability of allowing parents to accompany their children on such transports. However, neither study found evidence that the parents presence interfered with effective medical care. "In fact, I recommend parental accompaniment as a measure to improve overall quality of care," said George A. Woodward, M.D., M.B.A., medical director of Emergency Transport at The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia and senior author of both studies, which appeared in the December 2000 and February 2001 issues of Pediatric Emergency Care.
"Traditional unwritten rules of medicine are changing," added Dr. Woodward. "More than 20 years ago, it was uncommon for fathers to be present during labor and delivery; now their presence is assumed and expected. Similarly, pediatricians have found that having a parent present when a child has a medical procedure can relieve anxiety for both children and parents."
The researchers surveyed parents of children transported to Childrens Hospital from other facilities during a six-month period in 1995. The 86 returned questionnaires were evenly divided between parents who accompanied their children and those who did not accompany them.
The vast majority (86 percent) of all the parents in the survey felt that accompanying their child was important or very important. Of the parents who accompanied their children, 90
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Contact: Erin McDermott
Mcdermotte@email.chop.edu
215-590-7429
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
4-Mar-2001