Parental satisfaction with inpatient care of children with cerebral palsy.
OBJECTIVE
Children with cerebral palsy (CP) have complex health-care needs. This study examines levels of parental satisfaction with inpatient care for children with CP at a tertiary care hospital to identify areas for improvement.


METHODS
Parents/guardians of children with CP and parents/guardians of children without a disability admitted to hospital completed a custom-designed questionnaire assessing six areas of the hospital admission: (i) the admission process; (ii) the child's personal care; (iii) the child's medical care; (iv) overall care of the child; (v) the parent's experience in hospital; and (vi) keeping up to date in hospital. Differences between the two groups were analysed using Student's t-tests.


RESULTS
Parents of children with CP were significantly less satisfied with the inpatient care as compared with parents of children without a disability in four of the six categories: 'my child's personal care' (P = 0.0033), 'my child's medical care' (P = 0.0350), 'overall care' (P = 0.0081) and 'my experience in the hospital' (P = 0.0209). When the overall questionnaire was compared between the two groups, parents of children with CP were less satisfied with care than parents of children without a disability (P = 0.0036).


CONCLUSIONS
Parents of children with CP are less satisfied with the inpatient care of their child compared with parents of children without a disability. This information should be instrumental in informing change to ensure that parent satisfaction levels improve to a level consistent with other children admitted to a tertiary care setting.
Department of Developmental Medicine, The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.|The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Maria
M
Iannelli
Department of Developmental Medicine, The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.|The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.|Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Adrienne
A
Harvey
Department of Developmental Medicine, The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Jenny
J
O'Neill
Department of Developmental Medicine, The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.|The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.|Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Dinah
D
Reddihough
D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
cerebral palsy; child; consumer satisfaction; hospitalisation; patient care