Parental Choice of Emergency Department Versus Urgent Care Center for Children

Emergency departments (ED) have traditionally been the mainstay for any child who requires emergent care. With increased access to local urgent care centers, a new choice has been afforded to families who would have otherwise visited a traditional emergency department. With several viable options, why are parents still taking their children to an emergency department as opposed to an urgent care center? Referencing Imogene King's theory of goal attainment (1971), this study explained the rationale surrounding this critical care decision as well as the implications on emergency room overcrowding by allocating lower acuity pediatric patients to an urgent care center. In this non-experimental, descriptive study a survey was utilized to examine the reasons why parents brought their children to the ED as opposed to an urgent care center. The survey tool incorporated the triage level of the pediatric patient based on a modified version of an Emergency Department Usage Survey. The sample size was twenty-nine respondents. Upon completion of this study the results concluded that 93% of patients, with correlating ESI scores of 3--5, could have ultimately been re-directed to urgent care centers. This study has disclosed a health literacy gap as predicted in the hypothesis, and a grounds for which this data can be communicated. In this non-experimental, descriptive study a survey was utilized to examine the reasons why parents brought their children to the ED as opposed to an urgent care center. The survey tool incorporated the triage level of the pediatric patient based on a modified version of an Emergency Department Usage Survey. The sample size was twenty-nine respondents. Upon completion of this study the results concluded that 93% of patients, with correlating ESI scores of 3-5, could have ultimately been re-directed to urgent care centers. This study has disclosed a health literacy gap as predicted in the hypothesis, and a grounds for which this data can be communicated.