ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Despite growing interest in children and young people's (CYP) perspectives on healthcare, they continue to be excluded from many patient experience surveys. This study investigated the feasibility of, and additional information gained by, measuring CYP experiences of a recent hospital admission. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of national survey data. SETTING: Inpatients aged 8-15 years in eligible National Health Service hospitals, July-September 2014. PARTICIPANTS: 6204 parents/carers completed the parent section of the survey. The CYP section of the survey was completed by CYP themselves (n=3592), parents (n=849) or jointly (n=1763). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Pain relief, involvement, quality of staff communication, perceived safety, ward environment, overall experience. ANALYSES: Single-measures intraclass correlations (ICCs) were used to assess the concordance between CYP and parent responses about the same inpatient episode. Multilevel logistic regression models, adjusted for individual characteristics, were used to compare the odds of positive responses when the CYP section of the survey was completed by parents, by CYP themselves or jointly. RESULTS: The CYP section of the survey was completed independently by 57.8% of CYP. Agreement between CYP and parent responses was reasonably good for pain relief (ICC=0.61 (95% CI 0.58 to 0.63)) and overall experience (ICC=0.70 (95% CI 0.68 to 0.72)), but much lower for questions comparing professionals' communication with CYP and with their parents (ICC range=0.28 (95% CI 0.24 to 0.32) to 0.51 (95% CI 0.47 to 0.54)). In the regression models, CYP were significantly less likely than parents to report feeling safe (adjusted OR (AOR)=0.54 (95% CI 0.38 to 0.76)), involvement in decisions (AOR=0.66 (95% CI 0.46 to 0.94)) or adequate privacy (AOR=0.68 (95% CI 0.52 to 0.89)). CONCLUSIONS: Including CYP (8-15 years) in patient experience surveys is feasible and enhances what is known from parents' responses.
Subject(s)
Attitude to Health , Child Health Services/standards , Child, Hospitalized/psychology , Inpatients/psychology , Parents/psychology , State Medicine/standards , Adolescent , Child , Communication , Cross-Sectional Studies , England , Feasibility Studies , Female , Health Care Surveys , Hospitalization , Humans , Male , Professional-Family Relations , Professional-Patient RelationsABSTRACT
Parental feedback has long shaped NHS care, but until recently there has been little evidence gathered about patient experiences through the eyes of children. But as Bridget Hopwood and Sarah-Ann Burger write, change is under way.
Subject(s)
Delivery of Health Care , Patient Satisfaction , State Medicine , Adolescent , Child , Humans , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Patient experience is widely measured in healthcare settings, but few tools exist that gather feedback directly from young patients. AIM: To develop a paediatric questionnaire to gain meaningful feedback from young hospital outpatients. METHOD: Two paper questionnaires were designed and tested--one for parents and one for young people. These were piloted in 2009 with 1,200 recent outpatients and their parents/carers from Sheffield Children's Foundation Trust. Rollout to 14 acute NHS trusts in England achieved an average response rate of 33%. RESULTS: The main problems for young outpatients related to waiting, pre-appointment information and communication. Questionnaire validation showed that both surveys were accessible and a reliable measure of patient experience. CONCLUSIONS: It is important to give children and young people a say in their healthcare via tested methods that are appropriate to their needs and abilities. Results can help hospital outpatient departments to identify the main issues and problems experienced by their young patients.
