Parents’ Rating of Quality of Care Is Linked to Their Child’s Health

Patients’ evaluation of their healthcare experience is increasingly used as a quality-of-care indicator. This study examined the relation between parents’ perceptions of quality of pediatric care and their children’s perceived health status.

Researchers mailed a survey to 26,250 randomly selected parents of children who had been recently discharged from one of 39 U.S. hospitals; 48% responded. Overall, 62% of parents rated their child’s health as very good (29%) or excellent (33%), and 51% reported that their child had a chronic condition. Children without chronic conditions were rated as significantly healthier than children with chronic conditions. Most parents rated their child’s inpatient healthcare as very good (32%) or excellent (47%).…