1 Director, Outpatient Services Children's Orthopedic Hospital Assistant Professor of Pediatrics University of Washington Seattle, Washington 98105
Vernon and Schulman's desire to collect more precise information about reactions of children to hospitalization is laudable (Pediatrics, 34:694, 1964), but their cause is not served by the data they present. Clinical research usually follows clinical observations. Perhaps a reason that hospitalization as a source of psychological benefit to preschool children has been neglected in previous studies is that it rarely is seen clinically.
In their study, children's behaviour following hospitalization was not observed but rather parents' reports of their perceptions of behaviour