Evaluation of unilateral cleft lip severity and postoperative client satisfaction: A prospective study

Background: Client satisfaction is a health assessment parameter that has become a core consideration and of increasing importance in healthcare delivery worldwide. This is useful for the determination of accountability, quality improvement, health systems design, resource allocation, purchasing decisions, and policy development. The aim of this study was to find the relationship between preoperative unilateral cleft lip severity and the client satisfaction. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective study conducted between March 2019 and July 2021. The sociodemographics of the patients and caregivers, such as age and sex, were obtained. The presurgical severity of the unilateral cleft was assessed using the Bermudez rating scale, and the postoperative client satisfaction for lip, nose, and general appearance of the face was measured using a visual analogue scale. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS version 20. Results: Fifty-nine subjects completed the study with 86.4% ( n = 51) were of the severe spectrum using the Bermudez rating scale. Using Spearman’s correlation test, there was a statistically significant difference between preoperative cleft severity and client satisfaction for nose and lip (r s = −0.31, P = 0.02) and (r s = −0.26 P = 0.05), respectively. Conclusions: The study showed that the preoperative severity of unilateral cleft had a significant influence on client satisfaction. It is recommended that client satisfaction levels and clinical outcomes be recorded routinely, and their concordance or discrepancy evaluated, so as to have an impression of the client’s perception of surgical outcome.