Contextual factors influencing parents' assessments of family-centred care in the paediatric emergency department: A qualitative study.

Only English-speaking parents were included, so findings may not transfer to families who speak other languages. Participants were recruited from one children's hospital in Northern California, which may limit transferability. Interviews occurred up to three months after the ED visit, so memory bias was possible. Participants may have had particularly negative or positive experiences, introducing response bias. No care team providers were interviewed, so the study does not describe the providers' perspective. In-person and telephone interviews may have produced different data. The interviewer was a healthcare provider, which could have influenced responses.

Funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

Do not assume parent-reported ED experience scores directly reflect the care delivered. Parents described expectations, confusion and powerlessness as shaping their assessments, so those scores may be biased.