Lim ELP, Lokanathan P..
Marple Cottage Surgery, Marple, Stockport, UK. | | Background | | General practice tends to be the first port of call for parents when a child becomes unwell. However, the challenges encountered by parents requesting for a same day appointment is also increasingly recognised. Consequently, we observe rising numbers of unnecessary paediatric A&E attendees and hence a significant impact towards our current budget within the NHS. | | | | Aim | | To examine the benefits of implementing a five minute same day appointment for children in a general practice. | | | | Methods | | A retrospective study was performed to identify the 5 minute same day appointments for children. An electronic database was used to obtain details of the diagnosis, duration of consultation, outcomes and any subsequent outcomes. | | | | Results | | During the 4 month audit period, 190 children aged between 22 weeks to 17 years were included. A majority presented with respiratory problems followed by dermatology and ENT cases. 121 (64%) children were seen within the 5 minutes target, 53 (28%) for 6-10 minutes and 16 (8%) for more than 10 minutes. The outcomes demonstrated 121 (64%) children were given advice only, 52 (27%) were prescribed medications, 6 (3%) required a paediatric referral, 5 (3%) for a follow-up appointment, 4 (2%) for further investigations and one (1%) was referred directly to A&E. Subsequently 18 patients returned for a further follow-up, 9 proceeded with unplanned out of hours, 5 attended A&E while 1 required hospital admission. Individual case notes revealed 4 (45%) out of hours attendees, 2 (40%) A&E attendees and the one (100%) requiring hospital admission received advice only. | | | | Conclusion | | The implementation of the 5 minute same day paediatric appointment in a general practice setting is seen to reduce unnecessary A&E attendances and effectively increase number of patients consulted. The assessment of an acutely ill child can safely be performed in the community setting before requiring hospital input. | | |
DOI No: https://doi.org/10.7199/ped.oncall.2016.3S
| Cite this article as: | | ELP L, P. L. Audit: Pediatric 5 minute same day GP appointment. Pediatr Oncall J. 2016;13. doi: 10.7199/ped.oncall.2016.3S |
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