Evaluation of Satisfaction With Care in Paediatric Intensive Care Units: Swedish Parents' Perspective.

This was a cross-sectional questionnaire, so it can describe parents' experiences at discharge but cannot show that any care practice caused higher or lower satisfaction. Only 100 of 234 distributed questionnaires were returned, a 42.73% participation rate, and 3 returned questionnaires were excluded, leaving 97 responses from 55 children. The sample was small and limited to Swedish-speaking parents at two Swedish level III paediatric intensive care units, so results may not apply elsewhere. Many parents were couples (82 of 97 responses, 41 couples), and even though they completed questionnaires separately, shared experiences may have influenced answers. Data collection spanned February 2018 to September 2020, including 7 months of COVID-19 restrictions when only one parent could stay, which may have affected satisfaction. Parents whose children died were excluded, so the most distressing experiences were not represented. The sample had little ethnic diversity, and parents with different ethnicity than Swedish might have other experiences of care.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

Do not read the high overall satisfaction as proof that paediatric intensive care is fully family-centred. Parents still gave lower scores to involvement in decisions, knowing the responsible physician, and discharge preparation, and this survey did not test whether changing these practices improves care.