Preschoolers' Knowledge About Hospital and Emergency Equipment and Care

Abstract

Background: Information about preschoolers’ understanding of hospital and emergency care and medical equipment is needed.

Objective: The current study contributed to our understanding of young children’s health literacy in these areas.

Conclusions: Findings indicated that preschool-age children had more accurate knowledge of an emergency care as opposed to a hospital scenario. Also, young children tended to recount their experiences when discussing what they knew, supporting the idea that they acquire schemas for this information. Parents tended to overestimate their children’s knowledge. Children did not mention school as a place where they learned about hospital care and those health professionals working in school settings may be uniquely positioned to teach young children about hospital care. Children may absorb more information in this environment, and assessing whether this is true remains an area for future research.

• Preschoolers’ medical knowledge
• Young children and medical knowledge

Notes

1 Qualitative coding indicated that children’s answers about knowledge often were complex. It was difficult to count the exact number of responses as children may have provided multiple responses in one sentence when answering questions.