Impact of anesthesiologists on parental perioperative satisfaction scores.

BACKGROUND: While the focus on patient experience as an important outcome has significantly increased over the past decade, there is paucity of data on predictive factors associated with parental recommendation of a surgical facility to friends and family.

METHODS: Data for this report were obtained from a Hospital Information System and Picker Health validated surveys completed by 538 parents whose children underwent outpatient surgery from July 2014 to March 2016. Bivariate, chi-squared, and multivariate logistic regression analysis were carried out using the Picker Health item "Would you recommend this outpatient surgical facility to your friends and family?" as the primary outcome. Demographic data and 53 Picker Health items were used as potential predictors.

RESULTS: Multivariate logistic regression analysis found the following variables as independent predictors for parental recommendation: quality of perioperative communication by anesthesiologists (odds ratio [95% confidence interval]=0.23 [0.09, 0.58]); provision of information on whom to call for help after discharge (0.22 [0.07, 0.64]); child's perceived baseline health (0.37 [0.15, 0.90]); and ill-informed staff about child's procedure (0.30 [0.21, 0.79]). Variables such as child's pain and child's nausea and vomiting were not predictive for referral pattern.

CONCLUSION: Parental recommendation of a surgical facility to friends and family depends on a number of variables with the quality of perioperative communication with the anesthesiologist being the most predictive item.