Doan Quynh, Sheps Sam, Wong Hubert, Singer Joel, Johnson David, Kissoon Niranjan
CJEM. 2013 Nov;15(6):330-6. doi: 10.2310/8000.2013.130745.
To determine the willingness of parents of children visiting a pediatric emergency department to have a physician assistant (PA) assess and treat their child and the waiting time reduction sufficient for them to choose to receive treatment by a PA rather than wait for a physician.
After describing the training and scope of practice of PAs, we asked caregivers of children triaged as urgent to nonurgent if they would be willing to have their child assessed and treated by a PA on that visit: definitely, maybe, or never. We also asked the minimum amount of waiting time reduction they would want to see before choosing to receive treatment by a PA rather than wait for a physician.
We approached 320 eligible subjects, and 273 (85.3%) consented to participate. Regarding whether they would be willing to have their child receive treatment by a PA, 140 (51.3%) respondents answered definitely, 107 (39.2%) said maybe, and 26 (9.2%) said never. Most respondents (64.1%) would choose to have their child seen by a PA instead of waiting for a physician if the waiting time reduction were at least 60 minutes (median 60 minutes [interquartile range 60 minutes]). Respondents' perception of the severity of their child's condition was associated with unwillingness to receive treatment by a PA, whereas child's age, presenting complaint, and actual waiting time were not.
Only a small minority of parents of children visiting a pediatric emergency department for urgent to nonurgent issues are unwilling to have their child treated by PAs.
确定前往儿科急诊科就诊患儿的家长，让医师助理（PA）评估和治疗其孩子的意愿，以及等待时间缩短到何种程度足以使他们选择让PA进行治疗而非等待医生。
在介绍了医师助理的培训情况和执业范围后，我们询问了分诊为紧急到非紧急情况患儿的看护人，他们是否愿意在此次就诊时让其孩子由医师助理评估和治疗：肯定愿意、可能愿意或绝不接受。我们还询问了在选择让医师助理治疗而非等待医生之前，他们希望看到的等待时间最少缩短多少。
我们接触了320名符合条件的受试者，273名（85.3%）同意参与。关于是否愿意让孩子接受医师助理的治疗，140名（51.3%）受访者回答肯定愿意，107名（39.2%）表示可能愿意，26名（9.2%）表示绝不接受。如果等待时间至少缩短60分钟（中位数60分钟[四分位间距60分钟]），大多数受访者（64.1%）会选择让孩子由医师助理看诊而不是等待医生。受访者对孩子病情严重程度的认知与不愿意接受医师助理治疗有关，而孩子的年龄、就诊主诉和实际等待时间则无关。
在前往儿科急诊科处理紧急到非紧急问题的患儿家长中，只有一小部分不愿意让孩子接受医师助理的治疗。
