Parental Experiences of the Pediatric Day Surgery Pathway and the Needs for a Digital Gaming Solution: Qualitative Study.

Arja Rantala,Otto Helve,Minna Pikkarainen,Tarja Pölkki,Miia M Jansson,Pekka Lahdenne

doi:10.2196/23626

Abstract

BackgroundThe parents of hospitalized children are often dissatisfied with waiting times, fasting, discharge criteria, postoperative pain relief, and postoperative guidance. Parents’ experiences help care providers to provide effective, family-centered care that responds to parents’ needs throughout the day surgery pathway.ObjectiveThe objective of our study was to describe parental experiences of the pediatric day surgery pathway and the needs for a digital gaming solution in order to facilitate the digitalization of these pathways.MethodsThis was a descriptive qualitative study. The participants (N=31) were parents whose children were admitted to the hospital for the day surgical treatments or magnetic resonance imaging. The data were collected through an unstructured, open-ended questionnaire; an inductive content analysis was conducted to analyze the qualitative data. Reporting of the study findings adheres to the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) checklist.ResultsParental experiences of the children’s day surgery pathway included 3 main categories: (1) needs for parental guidance, (2) needs for support, and (3) child involved in his or her own pathway (eg, consideration of an individual child and preparation of child for treatment). The needs for a digital gaming solution were identified as 1 main category—the digital gaming solution for children and families to support care. This main category included 3 upper categories: (1) preparing children and families for the day surgery via the solution, (2) gamification in the solution, and (3) connecting people through the solution.ConclusionsParents need guidance and support for their children’s day surgery care pathways. A digital gaming solution may be a relevant tool to support communication and to provide information on day surgeries. Families are ready for and are open to digital gaming solutions that provide support and guidance and engage children in the day surgery pathways.

Highlights

The Global Observatory for eHealth has defined mHealth solutions as “medical and public health practice supported by mobile devices, such as mobile phones, patient monitoring devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and other wireless devices” [1]
2) If accepted for publication in a JMIR journal, would you like the PDF to be visible to the public?
The needs for a digital gaming solution were identified under one main category: the digital gaming solution for children and family to support care: (1) preparing children and families for the day surgery via the solution, (2) gamification in the solution, and (3) connecting people through the solution

Summary

Introduction

The Global Observatory for eHealth has defined mHealth solutions as “medical and public health practice supported by mobile devices, such as mobile phones, patient monitoring devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and other wireless devices” [1]. The parents of hospitalized children are often dissatisfied with waiting time, fasting, discharge criteria, postoperative pain relief and postoperative guidance. Parents’ experiences help care providers to provide effective, family-centred care that responds to parents’ needs throughout the day surgery pathway. Objective: The objective of our study was to describe parental experiences of the paediatric day surgery pathway and the needs for a digital gaming solution in order to facilitate the digitalisation of pathway. Parents’ experiences may help care providers to deliver more effective, family-centred care that responds to parents’ needs throughout the day surgery pathway [10]. Family-centred care considers the individual needs of parents and children [15] and emphasises the role of written information intended to reduce parental anxiety and stress regarding day surgery [16,17]. Postoperative pain is associated with parental satisfaction in paediatric day surgery [25]

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Discussion

Conclusion