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. 2021 Jun 29;8(7):559.
doi: 10.3390/children8070559.

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

Tobial Mchugh  1 , Karen A Brown  2 , Sam J Daniel  1 , Sharmila Balram  2 , Chantal Frigon  2
Affiliations

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

Tobial Mchugh et al. Children (Basel). .

Abstract

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.

Keywords: PPPM; adenotonsillectomy; children; electronic pain diary; pain measurement; pain scale; parent’s postoperative pain measure.

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Conflict of interest statement

Author S.J.D. is the director of Continuing Professional Development at the FMSQ. All other authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart recruitment. Legend: p-diary, paper pain diary; e-diary, electronic pain diary.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Representative illustrations of PPPM and FLACC diary entries for the electronic (a) and for the paper (b) diaries. Legend: PPPM, Parent’s Postoperative Pain Measurement; FLACC, Faces, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability Pain scale.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Compliance with daily diary recordings among the paper (black) and electronic (grey) pain diaries. Legend: p-diary, paper pain diary; e-diary, electronic pain diary. See text for definition of Diary Classes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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