Counseling and informed consent: the experience in a pediatric cardiology unit. How to communicate a pathological...

The aim of our study was to create an operative scheme for conveying a pathological diagnosis with emphasis on communication strategies. In order to check the validity of the scheme, parents of 122 of our patients were contacted by an outside observer and were asked to answer anonymously to a questionnaire concerning their experience in our unit. The questionnaire has been structured in three parts in order to verify (1) the quality of the communication of the diagnosis, (2) the team-patient relationship and (3) the comparison between our unit and the others. 87% of parents declared the language used in the communication clear and comprehensible and the time dedicated to the explanations sufficient (p<.01). They judged the quality of the information received as excellent (50%) or good (50%) (p<.01). Eightyfour % of them thought that the information given was sufficient and there was no need for any more details (p<.01). 92% perceived a comfortable atmosphere, they felt involved in the communication and encouraged to ask questions (p<.01). 91% described the behaviour of the team as helpful and warm without differences between the different figures of the unit (p<.01). In regard to the psychological support 70% of parents found it essential, 30% found it very useful (p<.05). These results show that our operative scheme is functional to the communication and to the team-patient relationship. It permits an "informed consent" as an aware choice of the parents and consequently a better way of management of the congenital heart disease.