Desire for perioperative information and parental ethnicity

To examine the role of ethnicity, language, and socioeconomic variables in parental desire for information regarding children's surgery.

To compare anesthetic and surgical information desired between English- and Spanish-speaking White and Hispanic mothers of children undergoing outpatient surgery.

Parents report wanting to receive detailed information regarding children's preoperative care; however, variables such as parent ethnicity and language spoken have not been accounted for in understanding desire for information.

One hundred and eighty-one mothers of children undergoing outpatient surgery, elective surgery, and general anesthesia were recruited and categorized into one of three groups: English-speaking White (ESW, n=79), English-speaking Hispanic (ESH, n = 63), and Spanish-speaking Hispanic (SSH, n = 39). In addition to providing demographic questionnaire, mothers completed the Parental Desire for Information (PDI) questionnaire, a 14-item measure of surgery and anesthesia-related statements.

Overall, mothers desired receiving information about the majority of the items on the PDI. As compared to ESW mothers, SSH mothers and ESH mothers were overrepresented in the 'have a right to know' response option, with significant differences existing in items concerning alternative methods of anesthesia, details of needles used, and location of PACU and OR.

Anesthesiologists should tailor the provision of preoperative information based on ethnicity and language of mothers involved. Ethnic and language differences shown in this study may exist in other populations as well.