Parent-Provider Miscommunications in Hospitalized Children

Area of Science:

• Pediatric healthcare quality
• Patient safety research
• Communication in medicine

Background:

• Miscommunications between parents and healthcare providers can lead to medical errors and negatively impact the hospital experience.
• Parent-provider miscommunications in pediatric inpatient settings are an understudied area.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the characteristics of parent-provider miscommunications concerning hospitalized children.
• To describe the associations between parent-provider miscommunications, parent-reported medical errors, and overall hospital experience.
• To compare parent and attending physician reports of parent-provider miscommunications.

Main Methods:

• A prospective cohort study involving 471 parents of pediatric inpatients.
• Data collection included parent surveys on miscommunications, errors, and hospital experience at discharge.
• Attending physicians reported miscommunications for a subset of patients to enable comparative analysis.

Main Results:

• 15.3% of parents reported miscommunications, which were associated with increased likelihood of reporting medical errors (OR 5.3) and decreased likelihood of reporting excellent overall experience (78.6% less likely).
• Parents reported miscommunications significantly more often than attending physicians (16.1% vs 3.7%).
• Conflicting information was the most common cause of miscommunication cited by both groups.

Conclusions:

• Parent-provider miscommunications are associated with increased parent-reported medical errors and a suboptimal hospital experience.
• Parents perceive and report miscommunications more frequently than attending physicians.
• Addressing parent-provider communication is crucial for improving pediatric patient safety and hospital experience.