The Patient's Voice: Development of an Adolescent Hospital Quality of Care Survey (AHQOCS)

Abstract

PurposeTo develop an adolescent determined hospital quality of care survey. BackgroundAdolescents do not currently evaluate their quality of hospital care. Hospital satisfaction surveys are mailed following discharge to parents, and parental input may not reflect adolescent perception. Design and methodsThis exploratory, descriptive study utilizing Q-sort methodology, investigated 60 adolescents/young adults' (ages 12–21) perception of hospital care. A comprehensive, peer-reviewed journal search conducted 1998–2017 explored adolescent perception of hospital care. Themes emerging from adolescent's perception of care were developed into 56 statements for relevance sorting. ResultsExcellent content validity of the care domains was established at 0.982 (utilizing the universal agreement). After placement of all 56 cards, items were correlated in order to reveal similarities in perspectives. Items of greatest importance to adolescents included ‘able to tell the doctor what was wrong with you’, ‘having family stay’, ‘trust in nurse to take care of you’, ‘able to ask the doctor to explain what they said’, ‘nurse clearly told you what would happen to you’, and ‘a clean room’. Little variation in response occurred across the variables of age, gender, length of stay, or diagnosis. ConclusionsGiven the opportunity to relate autonomously to health services, adolescents are able to determine quality preferences and should be contributory in determining hospital care. Practice implicationsBased on adolescent preferences demonstrated in this study, satisfaction with pediatric care delivery should be improved with attention tailored to adolescent wishes.