The needs of parents of hospitalized children.

Parents of hospitalized children experience many stressors and have many needs. The purpose of this study was to identify the needs of parents who have a child hospitalized for at least 2 weeks and to identify who is most likely to meet parents' needs. Twenty-two parents of children between the ages of 3 and 10 years of age completed a 44-item Likert scale questionnaire. Parents identified the need for information and the need to feel important and useful to their child as their most important needs. The physician and nurse were identified as the persons most likely to meet their needs.