Objective: To understand the correlation between objective clinical outcomes and satisfaction levels of families after pediatric surgery.

Materials and Methods: After IRB approval and informed consent, 611 patients aged 2 to 29 years undergoing surgeries at Boston Children’s Hospital were prospectively enrolled. Parental satisfaction with the overall hospital care and recovery room care was assessed two weeks after surgery. The authors dichotomized responses into those who were fully satisfied (greater than 90% satisfied) and those who were less than fully satisfied. The authors compared these cohorts with objective data on clinical outcomes including agitation and pain levels.

Results: Parents were fully satisfied in 85% of the patients with no agitation compared with 69% of those with agitation in the post anesthesia care unit (PACU) (p=0.005). Ninety-one percent of the parents of patients with no agitation described full satisfaction with their hospital experience (overall) compared with 79% of parents of patients with agitation (p=0.016). With respect to pain management, 87% of parents of patients with low pain expressed full satisfaction with their PACU experience compared to 73% with moderate pain and 68% with high levels of pain (p=0.004); no differences in overall hospital care satisfaction between pain categories (p=0.25). Multivariable logistic regression found pain is independent predictors of full satisfaction in PACU.

Conclusion: The present study provides the first direct comparison of objective measures of clinical anesthesia outcomes with parental satisfaction in pediatric peri-operative patients. Satisfaction was significantly associated with objective clinical outcome such as post-operative pain and agitation.

Keywords: Parental satisfaction, Pediatric anesthesia, Clinical outcome study

Received 28 Feb 2019 | Revised 25 Mar 2019 | Accepted 2 Apr 2019