Dissatisfaction with hospital care for children with sickle cell disease not due only to race and chronic disease.
BACKGROUND
A previous study reported increased dissatisfaction with hospital care for children with sickle cell disease (SCD); however, its small size excluded determining whether race and chronic disease explained the difference.


METHODS
At hospital discharge, parents of children with SCD completed a survey assessing satisfaction with their child's hospital care. Results were compared to three years of satisfaction surveys for children with asthma or admitted to a general pediatrician's service collected as quality improvement for the hospital. The primary outcome was parent reported dissatisfaction with care. A chi-square was used to compare dissatisfaction between SCD and each comparison group.


RESULTS
Parents of 639 children were included, 34 children with SCD, 124 with asthma, and 481 general pediatric patients. Parents of children with SCD were more often dissatisfied with their child's care compared to children with asthma (32.4% vs. 16.9%, P < 0.05) and general pediatric patients (32.4% vs. 14.6%, P < 0.05). Among all children, dissatisfaction was higher in families with minority children (21.1% vs. 12.6%); this difference did not exist among children with asthma. Among African-American children, a higher proportion of parents of children with SCD believed their child was treated differently because of race than children with asthma (45.5% vs. 2.8%, P < 0.01) or general pediatric patients (45.5% vs. 8.3%, P < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Parents of children with SCD report increased dissatisfaction with care. While dissatisfaction was higher in minority families, the high rate of parental concern about race as a reason for families of children with SCD is not seen in African-American families of children with asthma.
Department of Pediatrics, Children's Research Institute, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226, USA. dbrousse@mcw.edu
David C
DC
Brousseau
Terence
T
Mukonje
Amanda M
AM
Brandow
Mark
M
Nimmer
Julie A
JA
Panepinto
D000293:Adolescent; D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D010290:Parents; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D044469:Racial Groups; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires