A national, cross-sectional survey of children's hospital-based safety resource centres

Abstract

Objective: To describe the location, staffing, clientele, safety product disbursement patterns, education provided and sustainability of safety resource centres (SRCs) in US children's hospitals. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was distributed to children 's hospital-based SRC directors. Survey categories included: funding sources, customer base, items sold, items given free of charge, education provided and directors' needs. Results: 32/38 (84.2%) SRC sites (affiliated with 30 hospitals) completed the survey. SRCs were in many hospital locations including lobby (28.1%), family resource centres (12.5%), gift shop/retail space (18.8%), mobile units (18.8%) and patient clinics (12.5%). 19% of respondents reported that their SRC was financially self-sustainable. Sales to patients predominated (mean of 44%); however, hospital employees made up a mean of 20% (range 0-60%) of sales. 78.1% of SRCs had products for children with special healthcare needs. Documentation kept at SRC sites included items purchased (96.9%), items given free of charge (65.6%) and customer demographics (50%). 56.3% of SRCs provided formal injury prevention education classes. The SRCs' directors' most important needs were finances (46.9%), staffing (50%) and space (46.9%). All of the directors were 'somewhat interested' or 'very interested' in each of the following: creation of a common SRC listserv, national SRC data bank and multisite SRC research platform. Conclusions: SRCs are located in many US children's hospitals, and can be characterised as heterogeneous in location, products sold, data kept and ability to be financially sustained. Further research is needed to determine best practices for SRCs to maximise their impact on injury prevention.