Abstract
Background: Patient satisfaction is used as one of the measurements for quality of health care services and it has been related with how quality of communication between physicians and patients is perceived.The aim of this study is to to describe differences between parents and health care providers in perception of the medical information given by doctors to parents.
Methods: Single center, cross-sectional study. A 176 items questionnaire was administered to a sample of parents whose baby was admitted to a neonatal unit (at the time of the study or in the past) and to all doctors and nurses working at the same NICU. Medical information characteristics such as quantity, quality, understanding, concealment, priorities, etc. at different moments of the hospitalization were investigated by a self-administered questionnaire (health care providers, parents at follow-up clinic and those with a baby in the NICU) or by phone (other parents). Questionnaires were designed to allow item by item comparison between different categories of responders. The answers were on a 0 to 10 scale. Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn post-test or Mann-Whitney test were used in the analysis.
Results: Overall parents response rate was 69% (n=7) whereas health care providers was 80% (n=8). Characteristics of the medical information provided by doctors to parents rated on a 0 to 10 scale: median (interquartile range).
Conclusion: Medical information provided to parents whose baby has been admitted to a NICU seems satisfactory in scope and quality. Parents assessment is consistently more favourable than health care providers. Among parents, those with a baby still admitted to the NICU show a slightly less favourable perception. Nurses assessment of medical information is clearly more unfavourable than parents or doctors for most of the items.
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Pallás, C., Delacruz, J., Ruiz, G. et al. 205 Medical Information in A Neonatal Unit: How Is It Perceived by Parents and Health Care Providers?. Pediatr Res 56, 499 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-200409000-00228
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-200409000-00228