Pagel, C;
Bull, C;
Utley, M;
Wray, J;
Barron, D;
Stoica, S;
Tibby, S;
... Brown, K; + view all
(2019)
Exploring communication between parents and clinical teams following children’s heart surgery: a survey in the UK.
BMJ Paediatrics Open
, 3
(1)
, Article e000391. 10.1136/bmjpo-2018-000391.
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Abstract
Objective: To explore communication between clinicians and families of children undergoing heart surgery. Design: This study was part of a larger study to select, define and measure the incidence of postoperative complications in children undergoing heart surgery. Parents of children recruited to a substudy between October 2015 and December 2017 were asked to complete a questionnaire about communication during their child’s inpatient stay. We explored all responses and then disaggregated by the following patient characteristics: presence of a complication, length of stay, hospital site, ethnicity and child’s age. This was a descriptive study only. Setting: Four UK specialist hospitals. Results: We recruited 585 children to the substudy with 385 responses (response rate 66%). 81% of parents reported that new members of staff always introduced themselves (18% sometimes, 1% no). Almost all parents said they were encouraged to be involved in decisionmaking, but often only to some extent (59% ‘yes, definitely’; 37% ‘to some extent’). Almost two-thirds of parents said they were told different things by different people which left them feeling confused (10% ‘a lot’; 53% ‘sometimes’). Two-thirds (66%) reported that staff were definitely aware of their child’s medical history (31% ‘to some extent’). 90% said the operation was definitely explained to them (9% ‘to some extent’) and 79% that they were definitely told what to do if they were worried after discharge (17% ‘to some extent’). Parents of children with a complication tended to give less positive responses for involvement in decision-making, consistent communication and staff awareness of their child’s medical history. Parents whose children had longer stays in hospital tended to report lower levels of consistent communication and involvement in decision-making. Conclusions: Our results emphasise the need for consistent communication with families, particularly where complications arise or for children who have longer stays in the hospital.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Exploring communication between parents and clinical teams following children’s heart surgery: a survey in the UK |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1136/bmjpo-2018-000391 |
| Publisher version: | http://doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2018-000391 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ. This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Cardiovascular Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Mathematics UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Mathematics > Clinical Operational Research Unit |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10071125 |
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