Parents’ Adherence to Follow-up Testing Instructions Following Hospital Discharge

Itai Gross*, Lina Berkun, Dema Egbaria, Saar Hashavya, Shimon Rief

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The adherence to follow-up testing instructions post-hospitalization is influenced by a variety of factors. Our aim was to assess the parental adherence to follow-up instructions and identify the factors that influence it. Parents of 200 children were asked about their adherence with these instructions; responses were obtained from 184 of 200. Parents did not adhere in 20 of 194 (10.9%) of cases. Families of infants under 12 months and children older than 10 years had lower adherence rates. Test completion was more frequent for children discharged with a test appointment compared with those discharged without an appointment (96% vs 86.6%; P =.07). The main reasons for non-adherence were disagreement as to the value of the testing (45%) or parental misunderstanding (30%). In conclusion, in order to increase adherence with post-hospitalization follow-up testing, physicians should focus on explaining the need and importance of the test and schedule an appointment prior to discharge.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)571-575
Number of pages5
JournalClinical Pediatrics
Volume62
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2023
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.

Keywords

  • adherence
  • children
  • discharge instructions
  • follow-up
  • parents

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