Factors affecting parents’ satisfaction with pediatric wards

Aim To explore the relationship of parental satisfaction with sociodemographic variables and to identify the possible determinants in pediatric and surgical wards of two public pediatric hospitals in Greece. Methods: The validated Swedish Pyramid Questionnaire that measures parental satisfaction with the quality of care was used. A convenience sample of 352 parents (response rate: 88%) was collected from two major pediatric public hospitals in Athens, Greece, from February to April, 2016. The satisfaction questions focused on eight domains: information on illness, information on routines, accessibility, medical treatment, care processes, staff attitudes, parental participation, and the staff work environment. Results The parents of the hospitalized children were highly satisfied with the behavior of the healthcare providers and the medical and nursing care that was provided, but they were less satisfied with accessibility in the hospital. The marital status and child's length of stay in the hospital seemed to affect the most dimensions of parental satisfaction, with the married parents whose child's length of stay was short expressing higher levels of satisfaction. Conclusion: Healthcare providers’ approaches should be modified for parental satisfaction to be improved and parents’ sociodemographics while providing health care. Nurses should enhance the quality of nursing care.