Parents are helping prevent harm to children in hospital emergency departments, according to new study. Researchers from PRIME Center Wales, Cardiff University, with collaborators at the University Hospital of Wales and the University College London Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, reviewed 4,000 patient safety incident reports involving children who attended emergency departments. Of the 658 incidents that involved parental participation, 90% described parents helping to prevent, identify or reduce harm to their child.
The study, published in BMJ Paediatrics Open, found that parents played a crucial role in protecting children from health care-related harm by:
Raising concerns when they believed something was wrong
Prompting reassessments and further clinical reviews
Identifying medication issues
