Abstract
A referral to the Radiology department may be a very frightening, and at times a stressful experience for a child and their parents. The radiographer plays an important role as a healthcare professional to simultaneously produce high-quality diagnostic X-ray images and facilitate a high standard of care in a limited timeframe.
Parents’ involvement during an examination provides the radiographer valuable support and reduces stress and anxiety for their child. Establishing a partnership between healthcare professionals and families, through the concept of family-centred care (FCC), contributes towards better patient outcomes and overall parental satisfaction. FCC encompasses four core concepts: dignity and respect, information sharing and collaboration between families, patients and the healthcare team. However, an extremely busy workload and limited time constraints with patients present as a barrier to delivering high-quality care. In recent years, there has been an increased demand for high-quality healthcare services, subsequently resulting in rising stress levels among healthcare professionals. In turn, this results in substandard quality of care delivered to the parent and their child.
Currently, no studies exist that have qualitatively explored parental perceptions of paediatric care in a Radiology department in South Africa. Such research could provide guidelines to facilitate the best care for paediatric patients in Radiology departments. The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was thus to explore and describe parents’ perceptions of paediatric care in a Radiology department within Gauteng. For the purpose of this study, ‘perception of paediatric care’ was defined as the way in which the parent interprets the treatment of the child, through the lived feelings and emotional responses the parent may experience during their time in the Radiology department. One-on-one, semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with participants, until data saturation was achieved. The central question posed was: “Tell me about your perception of care while accompanying your child to the X-ray department”. Purposeful and maximum variation sampling was employed with a total of 12 interviews (pilot interview included) and 15 participants, since both parents participated in two interviews. Thereafter, thematic
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analysis was conducted using a manual coding process, obtaining patterns that occurred in the data.
This process was organised around a central concept and generated categories, and three emergent themes were contextualised within current literature. The three themes included: recognition of overall positive, high standard of care received by paediatrics who underwent an X-ray examination; limitations prohibiting a caring environment; and the need for parent-centred paediatric care through the implementation of Family-Centred-Care (FCC). The findings suggest that the overall perception of paediatric care within the radiographic profession has been well perceived. It was acknowledged that parents admired radiographers who were able to balance the requirements of paediatric-centred care while remaining professional, establishing trust and rapport, and obtaining the necessary X-ray images. However, it was evident that there were limitations preventing a caring environment, as both parents and their children had some negative feelings when entering the Radiology department as an unknown environment.
In summary, the recommendations provided unpack how best to provide an effective service to parents of paediatric patients in the context of radiography. These include the promotion of high standards of paediatric centred care among the radiographer community; the facilitation of a welcoming and supportive environment for both parent and child within the Radiology departments; and the development of a paediatric-centred caring module for undergraduate degrees. The purpose of the guidelines were aimed at Radiology departments, professional bodies, and associates such as the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) and Society of Radiographers of South Africa (SORSA) in the hope that they will benefit from the guidelines and facilitate radiographers’ delivery of high-quality FCC to paediatrics.