P. H. Chang1,3, J. Nelson1, L. Fowler1, P. Warner1,3, S. Romo2, M. Murphy2, R. Sheridan2,4 1Shriners Hospitals For Children,Cincinnati, OH, USA 2Shriners Hospitals For Children,Boston, MA, USA 3University Of Cincinnati,Division Of Plastic/Burn Surgery,Cincinnati, OH, USA 4Massachusetts General Hospital,Department Of Surgery,Boston, MA, USA
Introduction:
Parent proxy questionnaires are an important tool in the assessment of outcomes in the pediatric burn population. Surveys performed via mail suffer from low response rates. Surveys performed in an outpatient clinic suffer from the time pressures of a busy clinical schedule. Our group has been utilizing the Burn Outcomes Questionnaire for 5-18 year olds and the 17-item Pediatric Symptom Checklist (BOQ+P) using a tablet in a group of pediatric burn patients undergoing outpatient procedures. The objective of this study was to assess parental attitudes about the survey.
Methods:
The BOQ+P was administered to 39 patients, aged 5-18 years, undergoing a scheduled outpatient surgical procedure at a single pediatric burn center. The BOQ+P was administered on iPads using the TonicHealth© app to parents while the patients were undergoing pre-operative preparation. Additionally, parents were then administered a separate survey on paper asking for their opinions about the experience of taking the survey on the iPad.
Results:
39 patients were enrolled in the study at this particular site with 23 male and 16 female. The average ages of the males was 11.43 and females was 12.31 years (ranges 5-18 years). 36 parents responded to the post-BOQ-P survey. 97% of parents reported that the iPad was easy to use and were either very satisfied to satisfied with the experience. 100% of parents reported that the results of the BOQ-P were discussed during the visit. 89% of parents felt that the discussion with the burn clinician was helpful because of the results from the BOQ-P iPad survey. 86% of parents expressed a desire to see the BOQ-P on iPad utilized for future outpatient visits.
Conclusion:
The highly favorable responses of the parents towards administration of the BOQ+P on iPad demonstrate the perceived value of the instrument as a clinical tool to enhance communication between burn care provider and family. Furthermore, tablet administration of the BOQ+P was deemed a user-friendly means to complete the surveys. Use of a parent-proxy questionnaire is feasible in the outpatient surgical setting. Clinical providers have the opportunity to discuss findings from the questionnaire in a setting where parents and burn providers can talk privately while the children are recovering post-anesthetically in another area.