@article {Pagele000391, author = {Christina Pagel and Catherine Bull and Martin Utley and Jo Wray and David J Barron and Serban Stoica and Shane M Tibby and Victor Tsang and Katherine L Brown}, title = {Exploring communication between parents and clinical teams following children{\textquoteright}s heart surgery: a survey in the UK}, volume = {3}, number = {1}, elocation-id = {e000391}, year = {2019}, doi = {10.1136/bmjpo-2018-000391}, publisher = {BMJ Specialist Journals}, abstract = {Objective To explore communication between clinicians and families of children undergoing heart surgery.Design This study was part of a larger study to select, define and measure the incidence of postoperative complications in children undergoing heart surgery. Parents of children recruited to a substudy between October 2015 and December 2017 were asked to complete a questionnaire about communication during their child{\textquoteright}s inpatient stay. We explored all responses and then disaggregated by the following patient characteristics: presence of a complication, length of stay, hospital site, ethnicity and child{\textquoteright}s age. This was a descriptive study only.Setting Four UK specialist hospitals.Results We recruited 585 children to the substudy with 385 responses (response rate 66\%).81\% of parents reported that new members of staff always introduced themselves (18\% sometimes, 1\% no). Almost all parents said they were encouraged to be involved in decision-making, but often only to some extent (59\% {\textquoteleft}yes, definitely{\textquoteright}; 37\% {\textquoteleft}to some extent{\textquoteright}). Almost two-thirds of parents said they were told different things by different people which left them feeling confused (10\% {\textquoteleft}a lot{\textquoteright}; 53\% {\textquoteleft}sometimes{\textquoteright}). Two-thirds (66\%) reported that staff were definitely aware of their child{\textquoteright}s medical history (31\% {\textquoteleft}to some extent{\textquoteright}). 90\% said the operation was definitely explained to them (9\% {\textquoteleft}to some extent{\textquoteright}) and 79\% that they were definitely told what to do if they were worried after discharge (17\% {\textquoteleft}to some extent{\textquoteright}).Parents of children with a complication tended to give less positive responses for involvement in decision-making, consistent communication and staff awareness of their child{\textquoteright}s medical history. Parents whose children had longer stays in hospital tended to report lower levels of consistent communication and involvement in decision-making.Conclusions Our results emphasise the need for consistent communication with families, particularly where complications arise or for children who have longer stays in the hospital.}, URL = {https://bmjpaedsopen.bmj.com/content/3/1/e000391}, eprint = {https://bmjpaedsopen.bmj.com/content/3/1/e000391.full.pdf}, journal = {BMJ Paediatrics Open} }