Washington: When it comes to staying in the hospital, feeling safe and being able to get to sleep at night are the things that matter most to sick kids, nothing more and nothing less, recent findings suggest.
As part of the latest project, researchers developed the ‘Needs of Children Questionnaire’ (NCQ), the first of its kind to measure children’s self-reported psychosocial, physical and emotional needs in pediatric wards.
They assessed 193 school-aged children in pediatric settings in Australia and New Zealand.
Findings were published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing.
More than 1.7 million Australian children were admitted to hospital in 2016-17, according to the most recently available figures, some for a short visit and some for lengthy and regular stays.
“Historically the literature on children’s needs and experiences within healthcare settings have been largely limited to surveys completed by adults answering for children,” said Mandie Foster, lead author of the study. The children surveyed identified their most important needs as:
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