Parental Engagement of a Prototype Electronic Diary in an Ambulatory Setting Following Adenotonsillectomy in Children: A Prospective Cohort Study

• Published in: Children (Basel) Vol. 8; no. 7; p. 559
• Main Authors: Mchugh, Tobial, Brown, Karen A., Daniel, Sam J., Balram, Sharmila, Frigon, Chantal
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 29.06.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: children; Children & youth; Cloud computing; Cohort analysis; Diaries; Drug administration; electronic pain diary; ISO standards; Pain; pain measurement; pain scale; Parents & parenting; parent’s postoperative pain measure; Pediatrics; PPPM; Response rates; Statistical analysis; Surgery; Canada
• ISSN: 2227-9067; 2227-9067
• DOI: 10.3390/children8070559

Adenotonsillectomy is performed in children on an outpatient basis, and pain is managed by parents. A pain diary would facilitate pain management in the ambulatory setting. Our objective was to evaluate the parental response rate and the compliance of a prototype electronic pain diary (e-diary) with cloud storage in children aged 2–12 years recovering from adenotonsillectomy and to compare the e-diary with a paper diary (p-diary). Parents recorded pain scores twice daily in a pain diary for 2 weeks post-operation. Parents were given the choice of an e-diary or p-diary with picture message. A total of 208 patients were recruited, of which 35 parents (16.8%) chose the e-diary. Most parents (98%) chose to be contacted by text message. Eighty-one families (47%) returned p-diaries to us by mail. However, the response rate increased to 77% and was similar to that of the e-diary (80%) when we included data texted to the research phone from 53 families. The proportion of diaries with Complete (e-diary:0.37 vs. p-diary:0.4) and Incomplete (e-diary:0.43 vs. p-diary:0.38) data entries were similar. E-diaries provide a means to follow patients in real time after discharge. Our findings suggest that a smartphone-based medical health application coupled with a cloud would meet the needs of families and health care providers alike.