Grant: Foundation Grant

The emergency department (ED) care of children results in great financial and emotional costs for families, health systems and society. Many visits are for things that could be better treated in other settings or at home. Notably, 1 in 5 non-admitted ED visits could be avoided. Specific initiatives that target parents and emphasize their role as a partner in health, can inform parents' decision-making, shape what they expect to get from the health visit and influence use of health services. Goal: To develop, evaluate, and disseminate effective knowledge translation (KT) tools through actively involving parents with the end goal of increasing parent confidence and knowledge and influencing decision-making regarding priority childhood health conditions. Aims: We will 1) develop KT tools for clinical conditions identified by Canadian parents; 2) generate new knowledge on the effectiveness of KT tools in terms of parent/patient confidence, knowledge, decision-making, healthcare utilization, health outcomes, and economic impact; 3) create a framework to answer what KT tools work, for whom and in what context; and 4) inform best practices for knowledge synthesis, KT, and integrated knowledge translation. Significance: Engaging parents and families in the health care of their children is critical to optimizing practices and outcomes. The focus on parents is novel and will complement other national initiatives that target healthcare providers. The model we develop will be transferable to other clinical areas and leverage significant economies-of-scale. We have been extremely successful and productive in our respective fields and are well-poised with national and international collaborations and extensive support to readily implement a strong, successful research program that will have a direct impact on the health and healthcare utilization of Canadian children.