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Assessing the Respect of Children’s Rights in Pediatric Hospitals

Background and Objectives: In 1989, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), with a considerable number of the Articles of the Convention being related to the health status of children. Therefore, adhering to and assessing the...

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Autores principales: Georgousopoulou, Vasiliki, Voutetakis, Antonis, Galanis, Petros, Kourti, Freideriki Eleni, Zartaloudi, Afroditi, Koutelekos, Ioannis, Dousis, Evangelos, Kosmidis, Dimitrios, Koutsouki, Sotiria, Pappa, Despoina, Igoumenidis, Michael, Dafogianni, Chrysoula
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10221557/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37241187
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina59050955
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author Georgousopoulou, Vasiliki
Voutetakis, Antonis
Galanis, Petros
Kourti, Freideriki Eleni
Zartaloudi, Afroditi
Koutelekos, Ioannis
Dousis, Evangelos
Kosmidis, Dimitrios
Koutsouki, Sotiria
Pappa, Despoina
Igoumenidis, Michael
Dafogianni, Chrysoula
author_facet Georgousopoulou, Vasiliki
Voutetakis, Antonis
Galanis, Petros
Kourti, Freideriki Eleni
Zartaloudi, Afroditi
Koutelekos, Ioannis
Dousis, Evangelos
Kosmidis, Dimitrios
Koutsouki, Sotiria
Pappa, Despoina
Igoumenidis, Michael
Dafogianni, Chrysoula
author_sort Georgousopoulou, Vasiliki
collection PubMed
description Background and Objectives: In 1989, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), with a considerable number of the Articles of the Convention being related to the health status of children. Therefore, adhering to and assessing the implementation of the rights of children during hospitalization is a very important step towards child protection. Herein, we attempt to highlight the depth of knowledge of employees working in children’s hospitals with regard to children’s rights as well as the degree of adherence to the UNCRC with respect to hospitalized children. Material and Methods: The target group included all healthcare professionals working in the various general pediatric clinics of the three Children’s Hospitals of the Athens metropolitan area in Greece. We conducted a cross-sectional study, with data collection carried out in February and March 2020, using a structured questionnaire consisting of 46 questions which was handed out to all personnel. For the analysis, we used the IBM SPSS 21.0. Results: A total of 251 individuals participated in the study (physicians 20%, nurses 72%, and other employees 8%). A total of 54.5% of health professionals did not know what the UNCRC is, and 59.6% of them were not even aware that their hospital had rules and a bioethical committee related to clinical research involving children. Lack of awareness or trust of health professionals is also observed for other procedures or supervisory measures such as abuse protocols, complaint control, admission control, etc. With regard to the health system, there are shortcomings or weaknesses in (a) procedures followed with regard to respect for gender and privacy, (b) information on basic services provided by pediatric hospitals (such as recreation, education and free meals during hospitalization), (c) the logistical infrastructure (such as recreational facilities and facilities for the disabled), (d) the possibility of recording complaints, and (e) hospitalizations that were not necessary. A difference emerged concerning the nurses’ responses between the three hospitals, with nurses participating in relevant seminars held in one of the hospitals being significantly more informed. Conclusions: The majority of healthcare personnel seem unaware of basic principles with respect to children’s rights during hospitalization as well as relevant procedures and supervisory measures. Moreover, obvious weaknesses of the health system exist with respect to procedures, services, infrastructure, and complaint recording. There is a need for improved education of health professionals with respect to the implementation of children’s rights in pediatric hospitals.
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spelling pubmed-102215572023-05-28 Assessing the Respect of Children’s Rights in Pediatric Hospitals Georgousopoulou, Vasiliki Voutetakis, Antonis Galanis, Petros Kourti, Freideriki Eleni Zartaloudi, Afroditi Koutelekos, Ioannis Dousis, Evangelos Kosmidis, Dimitrios Koutsouki, Sotiria Pappa, Despoina Igoumenidis, Michael Dafogianni, Chrysoula Medicina (Kaunas) Article Background and Objectives: In 1989, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), with a considerable number of the Articles of the Convention being related to the health status of children. Therefore, adhering to and assessing the implementation of the rights of children during hospitalization is a very important step towards child protection. Herein, we attempt to highlight the depth of knowledge of employees working in children’s hospitals with regard to children’s rights as well as the degree of adherence to the UNCRC with respect to hospitalized children. Material and Methods: The target group included all healthcare professionals working in the various general pediatric clinics of the three Children’s Hospitals of the Athens metropolitan area in Greece. We conducted a cross-sectional study, with data collection carried out in February and March 2020, using a structured questionnaire consisting of 46 questions which was handed out to all personnel. For the analysis, we used the IBM SPSS 21.0. Results: A total of 251 individuals participated in the study (physicians 20%, nurses 72%, and other employees 8%). A total of 54.5% of health professionals did not know what the UNCRC is, and 59.6% of them were not even aware that their hospital had rules and a bioethical committee related to clinical research involving children. Lack of awareness or trust of health professionals is also observed for other procedures or supervisory measures such as abuse protocols, complaint control, admission control, etc. With regard to the health system, there are shortcomings or weaknesses in (a) procedures followed with regard to respect for gender and privacy, (b) information on basic services provided by pediatric hospitals (such as recreation, education and free meals during hospitalization), (c) the logistical infrastructure (such as recreational facilities and facilities for the disabled), (d) the possibility of recording complaints, and (e) hospitalizations that were not necessary. A difference emerged concerning the nurses’ responses between the three hospitals, with nurses participating in relevant seminars held in one of the hospitals being significantly more informed. Conclusions: The majority of healthcare personnel seem unaware of basic principles with respect to children’s rights during hospitalization as well as relevant procedures and supervisory measures. Moreover, obvious weaknesses of the health system exist with respect to procedures, services, infrastructure, and complaint recording. There is a need for improved education of health professionals with respect to the implementation of children’s rights in pediatric hospitals. MDPI 2023-05-16 /pmc/articles/PMC10221557/ /pubmed/37241187 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina59050955 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Georgousopoulou, Vasiliki
Voutetakis, Antonis
Galanis, Petros
Kourti, Freideriki Eleni
Zartaloudi, Afroditi
Koutelekos, Ioannis
Dousis, Evangelos
Kosmidis, Dimitrios
Koutsouki, Sotiria
Pappa, Despoina
Igoumenidis, Michael
Dafogianni, Chrysoula
Assessing the Respect of Children’s Rights in Pediatric Hospitals
title Assessing the Respect of Children’s Rights in Pediatric Hospitals
title_full Assessing the Respect of Children’s Rights in Pediatric Hospitals
title_fullStr Assessing the Respect of Children’s Rights in Pediatric Hospitals
title_full_unstemmed Assessing the Respect of Children’s Rights in Pediatric Hospitals
title_short Assessing the Respect of Children’s Rights in Pediatric Hospitals
title_sort assessing the respect of children’s rights in pediatric hospitals
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10221557/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37241187
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina59050955
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