Objective: To determine parents' expectations about care for their children's upper respiratory tract infections (URI) at the Family Medicine Clinic, Hatyai Hospital, and the related factors.
Material and Methods: A questionnaire previously tested for its validity and reliability was used. Data were collected from 140 parents who sought care for their children's URI at the Family Medicine Clinic, Hatyai Hospital, in July 2004.
Results: Parents expected the physician to get thorough information about their child's symptoms in 95.7% of the sample. Measurement of body temperature or examination of lungs were desired by 90.7% of parents. Information about diagnosis was desired by 77.9%. Whereas 67.8% wanted to get more information about health promotion and disease prevention, 37.9% wanted follow up and 25.7% wanted the physician to ask about their concerns and their children's functional impairment. Although 95.7% wanted medication for relief of their child's symptom, 27.1% wanted oral antibiotics and 17.8% wanted blood testing or an x-ray. Using multivariate logistic regression analysis, parents who wanted the physician to ask about their concerns were related to child's age (OR 0.21, 95% CI 0.06-0.79) and self-medication prior to consultation (OR 27.9, 95% CI 3.14-248.17). Parents who wanted laboratory testing for their child were more likely to perceive severe symptoms (OR 15.38, 95% CI 1.30-181.17). Finally, parents who wanted more information about health promotion and disease prevention were more likely to have a higher education level (OR 3.64, 95% CI 1.08-12.25).
Conclusion: Although most parents wanted the physician to diagnose and treat their child's URI symptoms, some parents wanted the physician to ask about their concerns and perform follow up. Moreover, some parents were also interested in health promotion and disease prevention. Therefore the concept of Family Medicine appears to be important in and applicable t primary health care.