When we think of healthcare communities and children, we commonly picture them in a campus-wide daycare center that serves staff and their children or as patients in the pediatric department. But children are present in healthcare settings in other ways that are little understood, not often studied, and rarely designed for.
Naturally, children often must accompany their parents (even grandparents) to the adult’s diagnostic and treatment activities whether in an inpatient or outpatient setting. We tend to view the presence of children as pleasant and joyful, but the truth is that children accompany adults in all kinds of everyday situations, some mundane and some uncomfortable.
We know very little about the impact of the presence of children on the ability for quality healthcare to occur. The truth is that children accompanying adults in the healthcare setting can be an impediment to both the patient seeking care and the caregiver’s ability to work.