Parent and Young Adult Satisfaction with Psychiatry Consultation Services in a Children's Hospital

BackgroundQuality of health care services can be improved by promoting patient- and family-centered care informed by patient and family satisfaction with services delivered. Few studies have been conducted looking at satisfaction with psychiatric consultation services within an inpatient pediatric hospital setting.ObjectiveThe objective of the quality improvement pilot project was to identify ways to enhance services delivered and to guide the development of more comprehensive quality improvement projects.MethodForty-eight parents of forty-eight patients and 10 adult patients were administered the Pediatric Psychiatry Consultation Satisfaction Survey, which surveyed satisfaction with the psychiatric consultation services received during their stay in a freestanding tertiary pediatric academic hospital.ResultsSixty-nine percent of participants reported overall high satisfaction (i.e., reports of excellent or very good) with the psychiatric consultation service along with 88% reporting that they would recommend this service to a friend. Overall high satisfaction with the service was associated with positive ratings with three core components of a consultation: provisions of impressions and recommendations (P = 0.018), consultant–participant communication and working relationship (P < 0.001), and the helpfulness of the consultation (P < 0.001).ConclusionsThis quality improvement project underscores the importance of having psychiatry consultants convey their clinical impressions and recommendations, communicate effectively, and provide helpful interventions to parents and young adults in the pediatric hospital. It serves as an initial step responding to national consumers' demand for higher levels of quality and service and will provide guidance in future design and implementation of more comprehensive quality improvement projects.