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Parental Satisfaction With Autonomous Pediatric Ambulatory Surgery Units
Rodrigo Poves-Álvarez1, Esther Gómez-Sánchez, Beatriz Martínez-Rafael
1Anaesthesiology and Postoperative Intensive Care Department (Drs Poves-Álvarez, Gómez-Sánchez, Martínez-Rafael, Bartolomé, Alvarez-Fuente, Tamayo, and Gómez-Pesquera) and Research Support Unit (Dr Muñoz-Moreno), Clinic University Hospital, Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain; Biomedicine Research Group in Critical Care, Biocritic, Valladolid, Spain (Drs Poves-Álvarez, Gómez-Sánchez, Martínez-Rafael, Bartolomé, Alvarez-Fuente, Tamayo, and Gómez-Pesquera); and Faculty of Medicine, Valladolid University, Valladolid, Spain (Drs Eiros and Tamayo).
Insights
Parents reported higher satisfaction when their children underwent ambulatory surgery in specialized autonomous units compared to standard hospital settings. Improved perioperative information significantly boosted parental satisfaction in pediatric outpatient surgery.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Surgery
- Health Services Research
- Patient Satisfaction
Background:
- Ambulatory surgery offers numerous benefits for healthy children, including cost reduction and reduced infection risk.
- Parental satisfaction is a critical factor in the success of pediatric outpatient surgery processes.
- Comparing satisfaction levels between different ambulatory surgery settings is essential for optimizing care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare parental satisfaction in children undergoing ambulatory surgery in an autonomous major ambulatory surgery unit versus a hospital setting.
- To identify factors influencing parental satisfaction in pediatric outpatient surgery.
Main Methods:
- Prospective observational study of 200 children undergoing outpatient surgery.
- Data collection included patient demographics, surgery type, and location.
- Parental satisfaction assessed via a 15-question telephone survey using Likert scales.
Main Results:
- Overall parental satisfaction was significantly higher in the autonomous major ambulatory surgery unit group (3.54 ± 0.57) compared to the hospital setting (3.28 ± 0.64).
- Key factors influencing satisfaction included treatment in major ambulatory surgery units (OR = 2.16), quality of pre-operative information (OR = 2.03), and discharge information (OR = 2.48).
Conclusions:
- Parents are more satisfied with pediatric ambulatory surgery performed in autonomous units than in traditional hospital settings.
- Enhancing perioperative information is crucial for improving parental satisfaction.
- Developing dedicated autonomous ambulatory surgery units is recommended to improve patient and family experience.
Background And Objectives:
Ambulatory surgery is much favored in children, as they are usually healthy with no major comorbidities. Obvious benefits are minimization of health costs, optimal utilization of resources, decreased exposure to infections, and psychological and emotional advantages of avoiding admission of the patient, especially for the family. Parental satisfaction is a challenge in pediatric surgery processes. The objective of this study was to compare satisfaction in parents whose children underwent surgery without overnight stays with parents whose children were operated on in an autonomous major ambulatory surgery unit (hospital isolated).
Methods:
This was a prospective observational study of 200 children who received surgery on an outpatient basis (133 were included in an outpatient unit and 67 in a hospital setting). Different variables were collected, including sex, age, type of surgery, and length of stay in the hospital and location, and a telephone perception survey was conducted (questionnaire of satisfaction of 14 questions with possible answers from 1 to 4 on a Likert scale and a 15th question on global satisfaction, with an answer from 0 to 10).
Results:
Overall satisfaction during the hospital stay was higher in the group operated on in the autonomous major surgery unit (3.54 ± 0.57 vs 3.28 ± 0.64, P = .004). Whether parents respond as being very satisfied with the hospital stay is influenced by several factors, among which are: being treated at major ambulatory surgery units (odds ratio [OR] = 2.16), good or very good information received prior to surgery (OR = 2.03), and good or very good information received at discharge (OR = 2.48).
Conclusions:
Parents of children who received surgery on an outpatient basis were more satisfied if the procedure was performed in an autonomous major ambulatory surgery unit compared with hospitalization, even if it was not overnight. The information received during the care process influenced the parents' satisfaction. These findings suggest that efforts should be devoted to the creation of autonomous units for ambulatory surgery and to the improvement of perioperative information.
