Verbal information about anesthesia before scheduled surgery - contents and patient satisfaction

The Voice of Parents of Children With a Congenital Anomaly - A EUROlinkCAT Study

EUROlinkCAT aims to investigate the health and educational outcomes of children with congenital anomalies for the first 10 years of their lives. We also aim to facilitate the development of a more reciprocal relationship between families with children with congenital anomalies, health and social care professionals, and researchers by conducting focus groups. The aim of the focus groups and parent interviews was to investigate parental experiences of having a child with a heart defect requiring surgery, cleft lip, spina bifida or Down Syndrome and to identify their research priorities. In total, seven interviews with 12 parents and eight focus groups with 58 parents and two caregivers were conducted in four European countries. We found that parents request more positive information with a focus on quality of life and what the children can achieve rather than solely on the negative aspects and limitations of the congenital anomaly. Some parents also highlighted discrepancies between the family's need for support and the lack of support received from the local authority. Finally, it was challenging for the parents to address specific research priorities. Future research should therefore focus on the potential of a child with a congenital anomaly.

Information needs and information seeking behaviors of patients and families in acute healthcare settings: a scoping review

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this scoping review was to explore the information needs and information seeking behaviors of patients and families from healthcare providers in acute healthcare settings in existing literature.

INTRODUCTION

A well-informed family can be crucial to a patient's capacity to cope with their diagnosis and hospital care during acute or chronic illness. Information is therefore critical to both the patient's and family's understanding of the illness and healthcare process. Providing appropriate and timely information can empower patients and families with knowledge and alleviate the anxiety and stress associated with a hospital admission. However, acutely ill patients and families in different acute care settings have considerable and differing information needs.

INCLUSION CRITERIA

This scoping review included studies undertaken in acute healthcare facilities where patients were over 18 years of age and family members were of any sex, culture and ethnicity. Family was defined as anyone connected to the patient by blood, marriage or other significant relationship. Healthcare provider perspectives of family and patient information needs were excluded. Concepts related to type of information, timing of information, preferences for who delivers the information and method of information delivery. Qualitative and quantitative study designs published from 2010 to 2017 in English were included.

METHODS

Multiple databases were searched to find published and unpublished studies. A three-step search strategy was utilized. A charting table was developed for the data extraction process to record data relating to the review objectives. Specific data extracted included details on research design, geographical location, year of publication, characteristics of study population, research aims and outcomes as well as key findings related to patient and family information needs.

RESULTS

The scoping review included 109 studies from across 34 countries. Of these studies, 68 used quantitative research designs, 29 were qualitative in nature and 12 included studies reported using mixed methods. One study used an action research methodology. Nine studies were specific to family information needs. A majority of studies were conducted in the cancer care context, with other acute settings comprising intensive care units, surgical settings and individual medical or surgical units/wards within and across the hospital. While most of the included studies addressed the type of content patients and/or families prefer, a few studies explored the timing of information provision.

CONCLUSIONS

The international literature on information needs of patient and families comprises multiple published studies on differing aspects of the topic and situated within various acute care contexts. Despite the broad nature of the research, studies suggest that preferences regarding information content, timing of information delivery and choices regarding who delivers information vary across contexts and according to the patient/family member. The complexity behind this variation and strategies to address tailoring information delivery requires further in-depth research.

What patients want

OBJECTIVE

Although most health care professionals im- or explicitly will assume that they tend to use patient-centered communication strategies, there are reasons to believe that this might not always be a valid assumption. In everyday practice, professionals' own value system is often the dominant steering guide. This Special Issue aims to bring together ongoing research and reflections about the quality of health care communication from the patients' own perspective. In short: what do patients want?

METHODS

This introduction presents a comprehensive overview of the papers in the special issue of Patient Education and Counseling within a framework that describes the collected papers according to the six functions of medical consultations, taking account of the studies' applied methodologies: quantitative versus qualitative.

RESULTS

Two functions of the medical consultation are strongly represented in the collected papers on the quality of communication from the patients' perspective: 'fostering the relationship' and 'information giving'. There is a remarkable difference between the qualiative and quantitative studies, showing that if patients are not limited to prestructured questionnaires but completely free to express themselves, they tend to focus on 'fostering the relationship' with an emphasis on personal attention, warmth and empathy.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients' needs and preferences for personalized and humane medical care cannot be overestimated. For the rest, patient diversity is striking, showing the limited usefulness of general communication guidelines for the other five functions of the medical consultation. Researchers should be aware that patients' views might be different dependent on the applied methodologies.