Non-urgent presentations to a paediatric emergency department: parental behaviours, expectations and outcomes.

Objectives: To identify factors that influence the attendance of children with non-urgent medical problems to a tertiary paediatric ED and to define parental expectations of the hospital visit.

Methods: A questionnaire administered to a convenience sample of 200 parents/carers who attended the paediatric ED and whose children were categorized as having non-urgent problems that had been present for at least 4 weeks. Subsequent outpatient attendances were then analysed retrospectively.