Parental decision-making for non-urgent emergency department presentations in Victoria, Australia

Non-urgent paediatric Emergency Department presentations contribute to overcrowding, poor patient health outcomes, and burden acute healthcare services. A study was conducted to explore motivations and factors that influence decision-making processes of parents who presented their child to ED for non-urgent conditions. An exploratory study using a qualitative descriptive design was undertaken to address research aims. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of eight parents who presented their child (birth to 14 years of age), to ED for non-urgent conditions. Parental decision-making regarding ED presentations were influenced by a constellation of factors; however, three main themes emerged. These included <i>Parental Anxiety</i>, <i>There is Only One Place</i>, and <i>Mitigating Perceived Delay or Inaccessibility</i>. As such, centred on how parents addressed their anxiety when a child was ill, accessibility and capacity of EDs to provide immediate relief to parents and children, and parents' perception that accessing other healthcare services impacted crucial time for treatment. EDs remain a preferred healthcare service to address non-urgent paediatric needs, despite adequate health literacy among participants. When improving models of care within EDs, non-urgent presentations must be considered, including management of parental anxiety, along with establishing non-urgent care adjacent to or integrated within an ED.