Assessing parental expectations and satisfaction in a pediatric hospital setting

ABSTRACT

the purpose of this study was to measure parental expectations and satisfaction in the pediatric unit of our hospital and to explore factors that may contribute to an unfavorable experience. interviews with the parents of children admitted to the pediatric unit were conducted on the day of discharge. A structured 36-item questionnaire was designed to examine areas of parental expectations and reactions to the care provided by the hospital. during the study period, 88 randomly selected individuals were interviewed. This represented 17% of the 512 children discharged during this time. In 86% of the cases, the mother was interviewed. Most of the parents [92%] were entirely satisfied with the care received, and 81% felt that the experience was better than they had anticipated. More parents were satisfied with physician care [93%] than with nursing care [72%, p=0.001]. Fewer were satisfied with the explanations provided for investigations [78%] and treatment [69%]. The discharge plan was clearly explained according to 94%. Only 7 parents [8%] reported inconveniences related to the presence of medical students. This correlated with the child's age being less than 1 year [p=0.007] and the chronicity of the disease [OR=7.6, 95% C.I. 1.1-83]. this study shows high percentage of parental satisfaction of the pediatric care, which mainly was of physician care. The main cause of dissatisfaction was the presence of medical students, especially in the case of a young child [<1y], or chronic disease