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Young children often get sick, and although they usually do not need treatment, it can be distressing for parents and lead to a high rate of urgent health care use. As the demand for out-of-hours services grows, understanding parents' concerns and needs when caring for an ill child is crucial for designing interventions that support informed health-seeking decisions. This study aimed to investigate why parents contacted a Medical Helpline, their expectations regarding the call, and how their situation changed following telephone triage. Parents who contacted an out-of-hours Medical Helpline in Denmark participated in semistructured interviews that were analyzed using Braun and Clarke's 6-step approach to thematic analysis. A total of 39 interviews were conducted. Our analysis led to three key themes: (1) parental uncertainty in decision-making: caring for an ill child was associated with stress and uncertainty. Parents lacked the tools to differentiate between acceptable symptoms and signs of severe illness, resulting in catastrophic thinking; (2) validation: parents contacted the medical helpline to validate their assessment and share responsibility with a health care professional; they experienced a conflict between responsible health care usage and the need for reassurance; and (3) feeling safe at home: when the health care professional demonstrated competence, recognized parents' emotions, and dedicated time to explain the symptoms, parents felt empowered to manage their child at home through telephone consultation. Uncertainty in assessing a sick child's symptoms can lead parents to seek reassurance and validation by contacting a medical helpline. Telephone consultations often enable parents to manage their children at home. Interventions that help parents distinguish between mild and severe symptoms, and accept frequent illnesses as a normal part of childhood, could reduce stress and reliance on health care services.

ObjectiveTo explore the experiences of volunteer responders attending a paediatric out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (POHCAs) in Denmark.DesignThis qualitative study used the Reflective Lifeworld Research theoretical framework. Data were generated through nine in-depth, in-person or virtual semistructured interviews conducted with volunteer responders.SettingThe study was conducted in Denmark. We recruited volunteer responders from all of Denmark enrolled in the nationwide volunteer responder programme.ParticipantsNine volunteer responders who were dispatched in response to a POHCA from 2020 to 2023 were included in the study.ResultsThe experiences of attending a POHCA were categorised into three key themes: the mission, the situation and the aftermath. The mission refers to the altruistic drive of volunteer responders to contribute to life-saving efforts. The situation reflects the profound shock experienced when volunteer responders realise that the patient is a child, alongside their ability to act decisively and initiate cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the situation. The aftermath reveals the deep sense of fulfilment derived from being present and actively involved in attempting to save a child’s life, as well as the various emotions and reactions that the volunteer responders process after the event.ConclusionAttending a POHCA is a profoundly intense experience that can leave an emotional impact on the volunteer responders. On arriving at the location, despite the initial shock upon realising that the patient is a child, the volunteer responders engage in the resuscitation attempt and offer support to the child’s family. However, alerting the volunteer responders beforehand that the patient is a child may help mitigate the initial shock. Volunteer responders find significant meaning in their roles and express a strong commitment to saving lives, irrespective of the age of those in need.

Importance Young children often fall ill, leading to concern among their caregivers and urgent contact with health care services. Objective To assess the effectiveness and safety of video tutorials to empower caregivers in caring for acutely ill children. Design, Setting, and Participants Caregivers calling the out-of-hours Medical Helpline 1813 (MH1813), Emergency Medical Services Capital Region, Denmark, and their children aged 0.5 to 11.9 years were randomized to video tutorials (intervention) or telephone triage by a nurse or physician (control) from October 2020 to December 2021 and followed up for 72 hours blinded to the intervention. Data were analyzed from March to July 2022. Intervention The intervention group had the call disconnected before telephone triage and received video tutorials on managing common symptoms in acutely ill children and when to seek medical help. Caregivers could subsequently call MH1813 for telephone triage. Main outcomes and measures The primary outcome was caregivers’ self-efficacy, reported in an electronic survey the following day. Secondary outcomes were satisfaction, child status, assessment by a general practitioner or physician at the hospital, telephone triage, and adverse events during the 72-hour follow-up period. Results In total, 4686 caregivers and children were randomized to intervention (2307 participants) or control (2379 participants), with a median (IQR) child age of 2.3 (1.3-5.1) years and 53% male distribution in both groups (2493 participants). Significantly more caregivers in the intervention group reported high self-efficacy (80% vs 76%; crude odds ratio [OR], 1.30; 95% CI, 1.01-1.67;P = .04). The intervention group received fewer telephone triages during follow-up (887 vs 2374 in the control group). Intention-to-treat analysis showed no difference in secondary outcomes, but per-protocol subanalysis showed fewer hospital assessments when caregivers watched video tutorials (27% vs 35%; adjusted OR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.55-0.82). Randomization to video tutorials did not increase adverse outcomes. Conclusions and relevance In this randomized clinical trial, offering caregivers video tutorials significantly and safely increased self-efficacy and reduced use of telephone triage. Children had fewer hospital assessments when caregivers watched videos. This suggests a future potential of health care information to empower caregivers and reduce health care utilization. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:NCT04301206