Pediatric patient interaction: provider vs. parent expectations

ABSTRACT

Background: Healthcare provider (HCP) interactions with pediatric patients and their parents requires methods of communication differing from the HCP/adult patient experience. Gaps remain in understanding strategies and tactics that HCPs might use during pediatric patient interactions. For instance, research is needed to differentiate HCP/pediatric patient interactions among distinct groups such as infants, young children, pre-adolescents, and adolescents. Similarly, HCP beliefs about how an interaction should flow may not match those of parents – with possible consequences regarding compliance with treatment.

Methods: This paper reviews research into HCP/pediatric patient interactions and presents survey results that show where expectations align or differ between HCPs and parents.

Results: HCPs and parents generally approach the pediatric encounter with similar expectations. However, differences in specific situations are informative. HCPs are more focused on patients than parents. They are more sensitive than parents to situations involving difficult topics and change their approach for different age groups or developmental statuses. HCPs are more responsive to patients than parents for scenarios that involve delicate content, more so for scenarios that require being forthright with their patients. Parents prefer more thorough explanations when reasonable, and want to take part in discussions even when HCPs are more focused on their pediatric patients, especially for adolescents.

Conclusion: Having a fuller understanding of the expectations that HCPs and parents hold implies changes in how students in healthcare fields are trained; having better insight into this relationship will prepare them for interacting with pediatric patients while still addressing the needs of parents.

KEYWORDS:

• Child
• adolescent
• parents
• health personnel
• communication
• surveys
• questionnaires

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and the Eshelman Institute for Innovation University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Notes on contributors

Pooja Shah

Pooja Shah is a PharmD candidate at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. She has interests in working in ambulatory care, specialty pharmacy, and would like to enhance pharmacy practices to improve patient outcomes. This project closely aligns with her interests as it provides insights into providing better care for pediatric patients.

Kaitlin Donovan

Kaitlin Donovan is working towards her B.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of South Carolina. She has a wide variety of interests throughout pharmacy and hopes to obtain her PharmD to work as a clinical pharmacist or in industry.

Lucy Rexrode

Lucy Rexrode is a student at UNC Charlotte pursuing a degree in computer science. She completed an internship with the Young Innovators Program at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and continued working at the School as a part-time junior game developer.

Robert Hubal

Robert Hubal is a cognitive scientist with research interests that center on the intelligent use of technology to better train and assess knowledge and skills. He has applied research results to domains such as medical informed consent, clinical assessment of social and interpersonal skills, law enforcement interactions, and survey nonresponse.