Influence of pediatric disease severity on parental report of children admitted in a tertiary care center PICU

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to assess influence of the severity of diseases on parental assessment of their child's health care issues. A cross-sectional study. Pediatric ward [PW]/ Pediatric Intensive Care Unit [PICU] at a 1000 plus bed University affiliated hospital. During the study period of 45 days, we offered the parents/guardians of all children who had been hospitalized for 5 to 10 days to participate and provide responses to 37 items that were divided in five categories. The participants [n=99] comprised of two groups PICU [n=35] and PW [n=64]. Responses were analyzed using SPSS statistical software; differences were considered significant at P parents/guardians responses differed in 22/37 queries. Relevant to each category; regarding patient-related statements, significant differences were present in 5/9 responses [all P<0.0001]. Regarding support-related statements, significant differences were observed in 4/4 responses [all P<0.0001]; and regarding staff-related statements, 7/8 responses differed significantly between two groups [P=0.017 to P<0.0001]. Significant differences were found in 5/10 ancillary care-related responses [P=0.004 to P<0.0001] while 1/7 responses differed significantly regarding hospital policies-related statements [P=0.02]. The data show that the children's severity of disease significantly influences the parental reports on quality of health care. As expected, the difference in responses may affect their understanding, judgment and expectations regarding the quality of care. On a broader scale, it may also affect the process of family centered care [FCC]. Further multicenter, multiethnic studies will be required to validate these preliminary findings: