Patient Satisfaction after Antenatal Joint Fetal Medicine and Pediatric Surgery Counseling.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to find out the level of satisfaction among couples receiving antenatal counseling provided jointly by fetal medicine specialists and pediatric surgeons.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This was a questionnaire-based observational study. A total of 110 consecutive couples who were antenatally diagnosed with fetal structural anomaly and received counseling by fetal medicine specialist and pediatric surgeon together, were given a validated patient satisfaction questionnaire (PSQ-18) after delivery to assess their level of satisfaction regarding the antenatal care they received.

RESULTS

A total of 120 couple responded to the questionnaire, mean gestational age at delivery was 33.8 ± 7.14 weeks. In PSQ, 75.8% gave high scores for general satisfaction, maximum subjects provided high scores for interpersonal manner (IM) (77.5%) and communication (77.5%), and the least number gave high scores for time spent with the doctor (50.8%) and accessibility (42.5%). The technical quality (TQ) subscale was significantly high for the stillbirth/abortion group compared to live birth ( = 0.020). Significantly high scores for TQ ( = 0.037) and IM ( = 0.023) were obtained in the <20 weeks group.

CONCLUSION

The joint counseling provided good interaction opportunity to the couple but still fell short of their expectations regarding time spent with the doctor and their accessibility.