Do parents understand the medical information provided in paediatric emergency departments- A prospective multicenter study
Acta Pediatrica, 07/16/2012

Toffolo A et al. – Renal function: there are no clear data to establish long–term consequences following UTIs during childhood. Most data seem to show that the outcome of renal function can already be delineated at first presentation or in the initial years of follow–up; only 0.4% of children with normal renal function at start presented a decrease during follow–up.

• Prospective multicenter study in thirteen paediatric emergency departments.
• The parents and doctors completed questionnaires based on closed-ended questions with a common core of four items: reasons of hospitalization, diagnosis, treatment and seriousness of child condition.

• This study included 380 parents.
• Percentage of concordance was 55% for the reason of hospitalization, 78% for the diagnosis, 92% for the treatment, 48% for the seriousness of the condition and 19% for all four items.
• The mean number of concordant items was 2.76 (CI 95%, 2.66–2.86).
• Parents whose children seemed not in pain and parents who received additional information from the nurse showed significantly slightly higher levels of concordance with doctor’s answers (2.98 vs 2.66, p = 0.006 and 2.89 vs 2.60, p = 0.004, respectively).