Authors (including presenting author) :
CHOW PC(1), YUNG TC(1), YEUNG PW(1), HO NL(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Cardiology, Department of Paediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, Hong Kong Children's Hospital
Introduction :
With advanced technology, congenital heart diseases and other cardiac conditions can be diagnosed in-utero. Foetal cardiology has grown as a specific branch of medicine. Knowing the foetus with cardiac lesions, provision of individualized counselling to the pregnant women is important to enable them to make informed choice and autonomous decision about the pregnancy. Furthermore, antenatal diagnosis of foetal cardiac defects allow better delivery recommendations and preparations. However, there is little knowledge about patients’ satisfaction on such assessment and counselling.
Objectives :
To assess the patient satisfaction level of foetal cardiology services
Methodology :
Patients received foetal echocardiography followed by counselling on respective foetal cardiac lesions and the possible outcomes by the paediatric cardiologist with adjoining obstetricians. Patients who attended foetal cardiology assessment and counselling session in Queen Mary Hospital during the period from November 2019 to September 2020 were asked to complete a patient satisfaction survey after the counselling session. The survey assessed satisfaction on 5 domains: 1/ knowledge and attitude of medical and nursing staff, 2/ content of foetal cardiac assessment and counselling, 3/ logistic arrangement of foetal cardiac assessment, 4/ satisfaction about facilities, 5/ overall satisfaction. Each domain consisted of 3-5 items. Each item was ranked on a 5-point Likert scale (1 to 5) with higher score representing greater satisfaction on respective item. The scores for each item were summed up and averaged for the whole cohort, with the maximum score would being 5 (greatest satisfaction).
Result & Outcome :
Eighty-three patients were recruited. The mean (SD) age was 33.2(4.7) years. The mean (SD) gestation during the first foetal cardiac assessment was 24.4(4.1) weeks. The average satisfaction scores for items in the domains of “Medical & nursing staff” and “Content of foetal heart assessment & counselling” were above 4.8 representing good satisfaction. The average scores for “Logistic arrangement” ranged from 4.7 to 4.8 and that for “Facilities” ranged from 4.6 to 4.7 respectively. Seventy-eight percent “strongly agree” and 22% “agree” the overall satisfaction, which resulted in average "overall satisfaction" score of 4.8.
