Aspects of paediatric in-patient care: views of parents and school aged children

The objectives of this project were to investigate the idea of family-centred care from the parents' and children's perspectives, to find out the difference between theory and practice, and to seek parents' views on methods for improving hospital environment and its facilities for children and parents. This study was conducted in a junior school in County Durham using qualitative and quantitative research methods. The data were obtained via surveying parents and children, interviewing parents whose children had been in hospital and collecting drawings from children. The facilities for families, parents and children in hospital might have shown some improvement, however there are several aspects that still need to be achieved. Some parents asserted that their basic needs were not being met during their hospital stay with their children. The mothers argued that having a sick child in hospital has an impact on the whole family and hospitals need to give some attention to their concerns. Although many professionals presume that they are working with a family-centred care approach, it is not clear to what extent this concept has been put into practice. The mothers reported the need for adequate communication and negotiation with health professionals to facilitate mutual collaboration and to avoid the anxiety that the participation in care might cause to parents and children. It has been proposed by some parents that home care could replace hospital-based care. The concern was that support for home care might be inadequate. Mothers in this study also proposed that the practice of home care could be facilitated by having direct communication with named nurses and doctors, using dedicated phone lines. Community nurses have also a part to play in home care. It would be important to consider innovations more proactive to health promotion such as parenting advice about healthy and unhealthy behaviour.