Introduction: Preoperative information is a legal and ethical obligation. Very little studies have evaluated the preoperative information method in pediatrics. Having a child operated on is stressful for the parents. Improving information is a way to lower their anxiety. Our study aims to measure the impact of a leaflet, which supports spoken information on parental anxiety, the comprehension-memorization of the information and their satisfaction.
Materials & methods: Prospective study including 178 patients of outpatient surgery, randomized in two groups: spoken information versus spoken information supported by a leaflet, which is then handed out to the parents. The messages were identical: physiopathology, risks without treatment, surgical technique and its possible complications, description of the hospitalization day, and postoperative care. Parental evaluation was made with self-questionnaires after the preoperative consultation, then on the day of surgery. At each moment we evaluated the level of anxiety, satisfaction of information quality and the comprehension-memorization of the data.
Results: Written information significantly improves the scores of comprehension-memorization, parental satisfaction and significantly decreases the level of anxiety.
Conclusion: Significant impact of the written document as communication support in pediatric surgery, validating the method and encouraging it to be generalized to other pediatric surgery acts.
Level of evidence: Level I.
Type of study: Prognosis study.
Keywords: Anxiety; Communication; Office visits; Patient education; Pediatric surgery.
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