Parents in the recovery room: survey of parental and staff attitudes

Abstract
We invited the parents of 150 consecutive children presenting for elective surgery to come to the recovery room as their child emerged from anaesthesia. Recovery staff decided when to call the parent, with the guidelines that the child should be awakening, maintaining his or her airway unsupported, and cardiovascularly stable, although not yet fully conscious. Parents completed one questionnaire before coming to the anaesthetic room and another on leaving the recovery area. Recovery staff completed a questionnaire after the family had left. Questions were asked as statements and responses indicated as strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree. The study was approved by our ethics committee and parents gave informed consent.