Table 4.

Representative Quotations of Parents’ Concerns and Solutions

Theme	Parent’s Concern	Parent’s Solution
Recognition of Child’s Psychosocial Needs	“It rekindles all of those memories of the night that the incident happened and the person who caused it. It steers a little bit her emotions back up.”	“From the hospital staff and the doctors, they tried to be very upbeat and relaxed and cheerful, and I think that is incredibly helpful.”
Information-sharing	“I just wanted to see what my son’s ears look like now, you know?”	“I wanted a diagram of what the PE tube would actually look like.”
Intimidated	“But it can feel intimidating because you’re there.”	“What advice I would give is don’t be intimidated. Don’t be intimidated by their credentials, don’t be intimidated if you feel that your questions might not be smart enough.”
Offended	“And the doctor sat us down … He goes, ‘I think your son’s making it all up.’”	“That phrase... was the downside. It would have been much better just saying, ‘We didn’t visibly see anything, but we’re waiting for results from biopsies to give a more clear picture.’”
Dismissed	“And he literally turned on his heels and walked out of the office. And it made me feel like a failure.”	“If I were to ask for anything, just more peaceful patience. And not feeling like we were just a cog in the wheel … When they come into the room, to sit down, to maybe not do like the speed talking … Maybe not leave until ‘hey, do you have any other questions?’”
Strength	“I’m always the champion and the cheerleader and I’m like yay we’re going to do it and inside I’m like dying.”	“So the little bit of support from the doctors and the nurses, the moral support, it really helps in situations like this.”
Preparation for surgery (day of)	“They don’t call you until very late in the day before to let you know what time to arrive, which is a little nerve-racking for me.”	“I was just surprised at how late it was in the day that they called. I would’ve preferred that it had been a little earlier.”
Anesthesia	“I really didn’t like the way that they said, ‘We’re going to give you a new pacifier’ … He had no clue what that meant then.”	“I would know which language would be most reassuring for him and the least scary. I needed those three seconds to just explain to him.”