Psychosocial Care for Injured Children: Worldwide Survey among Hospital Emergency Department Staff.
Publication/Presentation Date
3-1-2016
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To examine emergency department (ED) staff's knowledge of traumatic stress in children, attitudes toward providing psychosocial care, and confidence in doing so, and also to examine differences in these outcomes according to demographic, professional, and organizational characteristics, and training preferences.
STUDY DESIGN: We conducted an online survey among staff in ED and equivalent hospital departments, based on the Psychological First Aid and Distress-Emotional Support-Family protocols. Main analyses involved descriptive statistics and multiple regressions. Respondents were 2648 ED staff from 87 countries (62.2% physicians and 37.8% nurses; mean years of experience in emergency care was 9.5 years with an SD of 7.5 years; 25.2% worked in a low- or middle-income country).
RESULTS: Of the respondents, 1.2% correctly answered all 7 knowledge questions, with 24.7% providing at least 4 correct answers. Almost all respondents (90.1%) saw all 18 identified aspects of psychosocial care as part of their job. Knowledge and confidence scores were associated with respondent characteristics (eg, years of experience, low/middle vs high-income country), although these explained no more than 11%-18% of the variance. Almost all respondents (93.1%) wished to receive training, predominantly through an interactive website or one-off group training. A small minority (11.1%) had previously received training.
CONCLUSIONS: More education of ED staff regarding child traumatic stress and psychosocial care appears needed and would be welcomed. Universal education packages that are readily available can be modified for use in the ED.
Volume
170
First Page
227
Last Page
233
ISSN
1097-6833
Published In/Presented At
Alisic, E., Hoysted, C., Kassam-Adams, N., Landolt, M. A., Curtis, S., Kharbanda, A. B., Lyttle, M. D., Parri, N., Stanley, R., Babl, F. E., Pediatric Emergency Research Canada (PERC), Pediatric Emergency Medicine Collaborative Research Committee of American Academy of Pediatrics (PEMCRC), Pediatric Emergency Research in United Kingdom and Ireland (PERUKI), Research in European Pediatric Emergency Medicine (REPEM), Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN), Pediatric Research in Emergency Departments International Collaborative (PREDICT), & Pediatric Emergency Research Networks (PERN) (2016). Psychosocial Care for Injured Children: Worldwide Survey among Hospital Emergency Department Staff. The Journal of pediatrics, 170, 227–33.e336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2015.10.067
Disciplines
Business Administration, Management, and Operations | Health and Medical Administration | Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods
PubMedID
26707581
Department(s)
Administration and Leadership
Document Type
Article