National study of parental confidence in general practitioners.

AIM: To assess a national sample of Australian parental confidence in general practitioner (GP) care for illness and injury for their children. METHODS: Cross-sectional, internet-based survey of a national, representative sample of parents of children birth - 17 years in Australia was used. Purposeful recruitment was used to achieve a national, representative sample of 2100 Australian parents, reflective of demographic and geographic distribution based on census data. Parents were asked to indicate their degree of confidence in a GP to handle medical problems as well as their preference for, and use of, paediatric speciality care for their children. RESULTS: Fewer than half of parents (44%) reported that they were completely confident in a GP to provide general care as defined as 'can handle almost all general health issues for my child'. A slightly greater proportion of parents (56%) were completely confident in a GP to provide care for minor injuries, defined as injuries not requiring an X-ray. Greater confidence in general care was seen among parents >40 years of age and those whose GP is always bulk billed. CONCLUSIONS: Parental confidence in GPs is an important issue. Our findings that fewer than half of parents are completely confident in their GP to provide general care to their child may be an influencing factor on current health-care utilisation trends. The potential implications of low parental confidence in GPs are greater numbers of emergency department presentations for children with lower urgency conditions and increased referrals of children for specialty care.

Dental visits in early life: patterns and barriers among Australian children.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the early dental service utilisation patterns among Australian children and investigate barriers to care. METHOD: Randomly selected adults aged 18 years and older who were parents or caregivers of children under 18 years of age completed an online nationally representative cross-sectional survey which was then analysed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: A total 2,048 parents of 3,660 children, including 1,179 aged between one and six years, completed the survey. Utilisation of professional dental care was low among children under six years of age, with just 118 (27.3%) at one year of age having ever received professional dental care. The most frequently reported reasons for lack of professional dental care were that the child was too young, their teeth were healthy or that the child would be scared. Cost was the fourth most frequently reported reason in young children. Only 459 (22.4%) parents knew that the first dental visit should be at one year of age or earlier. CONCLUSIONS: Parents are unaware that children should have their first dental visit at 12 months, and therefore most children miss out on essential early health promotion. IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH: As many parents are unaware of the importance of early dental visits, integrating and strengthening oral health promotion screening and referral within broader early childhood health services is essential.