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Abstract
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OBJECTIVES: To determine whether providing child
motor vehicle safety recommendations on computerized discharge instructions
(CDIs) were useful to parents and modified their use of child-restraint devices
(CRDs). METHODS: The subjects were guardians of children seen in an urban
pediatric emergency department (ED). An intervention group was given
computerized ED discharge instructions that included the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration recommendations for motor vehicle CRDs. A control
group was given CDIs without the recommendations. All subjects were subsequently
called within four days of the ED visit and asked questions about their
knowledge and use of CRDs. They also were queried if the recommendations
affected their knowledge or changed their behavior. RESULTS: There were 52
subjects in the control group and 58 in the intervention group. Fifty-seven
percent of the intervention group remembered reading a safety tip (p < 0.001,
95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.32 to 0.62), and 82% of that subset correctly
identified it pertaining to motor vehicle safety. Forty-five percent (n = 33) of
those who remembered the safety recommendation in the intervention group
supported it being educational (p = 0.067, 95% CI = 0.28 to 0.64). Ten percent
of the subjects in the intervention group said the CDIs changed their behavior
regarding buckling-up their child, compared with 0% of the control group (p =
0.473, 95% CI = 0.05 to 0.32). CONCLUSIONS: Including CRD information on CDIs is
a convenient method of educating guardians of patients about motor vehicle
safety in a pediatric ED setting. The data suggest that parents find it
educational and a smaller subgroup change their behaviors after receiving
them. |