Telephone helpline for parents of children with congenital anomalies

Evaluation of healthcare professionals' experiences of taking telephone calls from parents of children with congenital heart disease. A risky business

The Congenital Heart Disease Standards for England indicate that parents and children should have access to a 24-h telephone advice service, however, little is known about existing services. This paper presents phase two of a mixed-methods service evaluation, which aimed to evaluate staff experiences of telephone communication with these parents. All nursing and support staff in a single specialist children's cardiac surgical centre were invited to participate in an online survey during July-November 2019. Data were descriptively and thematically analysed. Participants (N = 39) were predominantly nurses (n = 32, 82%) with 64.1% (n = 25) working in the speciality >10 years. Positive experiences included: signposting and preventing further deterioration; supporting families to get expert advice quickly; providing reassurance. Challenging experiences included: offering advice without being able to see the child, dealing with telephone calls alongside busy workload; and parents running out of medications and telephoning out of hours. In conclusion, taking telephone calls were perceived to be time consuming and are potentially high risk. A standardised approach to assessment, intervention and documentation was deemed necessary. Implementation of an updated parental early warning tool was recommended, along with staff and parental education.

A scoping review of the post-discharge care needs of babies requiring surgery in the first year of life

Congenital anomalies are among the leading causes of under-5 mortality, predominantly impacting low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). A particularly vulnerable group are babies with congenital disorders requiring surgery in their first year. Addressing this is crucial to meet SDG-3, necessitating targeted efforts. Post-discharge, these infants have various care needs provided by caregivers, yet literature on these needs is scant. Our scoping review aimed to identify the complex care needs of babies post-surgery for critical congenital cardiac conditions and non-cardiac conditions. Employing the Joanna Briggs Institute's methodological framework for scoping reviews we searched Pubmed, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsychINFO, and Web of Science databases. Search terms included i) specific congenital conditions (informed by the literature and surgeons in the field), ii) post-discharge care, and iii) newborns/infants. English papers published between 2002-2022 were included. Findings were summarised using a narrative synthesis. Searches yielded a total of 10,278 papers, with 40 meeting inclusion criteria. 80% of studies were conducted in High-Income Countries (HICs). Complex care needs were shared between cardiac and non-cardiac congenital conditions. Major themes identified included 1. Monitoring, 2. Feeding, and 3. Specific care needs. Sub-themes included monitoring (oxygen, weight, oral intake), additional supervision, general feeding, assistive feeding, condition-specific practices e.g., stoma care, and general care. The post-discharge period poses a challenge for caregivers of babies requiring surgery within the first year of life. This is particularly the case for caregivers in LMICs where access to surgical care is challenging and imposes a financial burden. Parents need to be prepared to manage feeding, monitoring, and specific care needs for their infants before hospital discharge and require subsequent support in the community. Despite the burden of congenital anomalies occurring in LMICs, most of the literature is HIC-based. More research of this nature is essential to guide families caring for their infants post-surgical care.

Distress and post-traumatic stress in parents of patients with congenital gastrointestinal malformations: a cross-sectional cohort study

Background

Congenital gastrointestinal malformation (CGIM) require neonatal surgical treatment and may lead to disease-specific sequelae, which have a potential psychological impact on parents. The aim of this study is to assess distress and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in parents of patients with CGIM. In this cross-sectional study, seventy-nine parents (47 mothers and 32 fathers) of 53 patients with CGIM completed the Distress Thermometer for Parents (DT-P) and the Self Rating Scale for Posttraumatic Stress Disorders (SRS-PTSD) as part of the multidisciplinary follow-up of their children (aged 5–35 months). Group differences were tested between parents and representative Dutch reference groups with regard to rates of (clinical) distress and PTSD, and severity of overall distress and PTSD, for mothers and fathers separately. Mixed model regression models were used to study factors associated with the risk of (clinical) distress, PTSD and with severity of symptoms of PTSD (intrusion, avoidance and hyperarousal).

Results

Prevalence of clinical distress was comparable to reference groups for mothers (46%) and fathers (34%). There was no difference in severity of overall distress between both mothers as well as fathers and reference groups. Prevalence of PTSD was significantly higher in mothers (23%) compared to the reference group (5.3%) (OR = 5.51, p < 0.001), not in fathers (6.3% vs 2.2.%). Symptoms of intrusion were commonly reported by all the parents (75%). Longer total length of child’s hospital stay was associated with more severe symptoms of intrusion, avoidance and hyperarousal. Child’s length of follow-up was negatively associated with severity of intrusion.

Conclusions

Having a child with CGIM has a huge impact on parents, demonstrated by a higher prevalence of PTSD in mothers, but not fathers, compared to parents in the general population. Monitoring of symptoms of PTSD of parents in follow-up is necessary.

Impact of a nurse led telephone intervention on satisfaction and health outcomes of children with inflammatory rheumatic diseases and their families: a crossover randomized clinical trial

BACKGROUND

Children suffering from rheumatic disease are faced with multidimensional challenges that affect their quality of life and family dynamics. Symptom management and monitoring of the course of the disease over time are important to minimize disability and pain. Poor disease control and anticipation of the need for treatment changes may be prompted by specialist medical follow-up and regular nurse-led consultations with the patient and families, in which information and support is provided. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a nurse-led telephone intervention or Telenursing (TN) compared to standard care (SC) on satisfaction and health outcomes of children with inflammatory rheumatic diseases and their parents.

METHODS

A multicentered, randomized, longitudinal, crossover trial was conducted with pediatrics outpatients newly diagnosed with inflammatory rheumatic diseases. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups TN and SC for 12 months and crossed-over for the following 12 months. TN consisted of providing individualized affective support, health information and aid to decision making. Satisfaction (primary outcome) and health outcomes were assessed with the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire-8 and the Juvenile Arthritis Multidimensional Assessment Report, respectively. A mixed effect model, including a group x time interaction, was performed for each outcome.

RESULTS

Satisfaction was significantly higher when receiving TN (OR = 7.7, 95% CI: 1.8-33.6). Morning stiffness (OR = 3.2, 95% CI: 0.97-7.15) and pain (OR = 2.64, 95% CI: 0.97-7.15) were lower in the TN group. For both outcomes a carry-over effect was observed with a higher impact of TN during the 12 first months of the study. The other outcomes did not show any significant improvements between groups.

CONCLUSION

TN had a positive impact on satisfaction and on morning stiffness and pain of children with inflammatory rheumatic diseases and their families. This highlights the importance of support by specialist nurses in improving satisfaction and symptom management for children with inflammatory rheumatisms and their families.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrial.gov identifier: NCT01511341 (December 1st, 2012).

Children's postoperative symptoms at home through nurse-led telephone counseling and its effects on parents' anxiety: A randomized controlled trial

PURPOSE

The objective of this study was to evaluate children's postoperative symptoms at home after outpatient surgery through nurse-led telephone counseling and the effects of the nurse-led telephone counseling on parents' state-trait anxiety scores.

DESIGN AND METHODS

In this prospective randomized controlled study, nurse-led telephone counseling was provided every day to parents in the intervention group until they came for the follow-up visit. Parents of children (n = 54) ages 3-17 years who had undergone outpatient surgery for appendicitis, cholecystectomy, or ovarian cysts were eligible to participate in the study. On the first postoperative day and at the follow-up visit, the Spielberger State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was administered to parents who were randomly allocated to the intervention (n = 24) and control groups (n = 30).

RESULTS

The parents reported on postoperative symptoms such as pain, activity levels, excretion, sleep, nutrition, and wound infection. While there was no difference in STAI scores for parents between the groups at the first postoperative day, there was a significant decrease in STAI scores in the intervention group versus the control group, with parents in the intervention group reporting lower anxiety scores.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Our results suggest that nurse-led telephone counseling is effective at reducing anxiety in parents of children after outpatient surgery.

Impact of a telenursing service on satisfaction and health outcomes of children with inflammatory rheumatic diseases and their families: a crossover randomized trial study protocol

BACKGROUND

Pediatric rheumatic diseases have a significant impact on children's quality of life and family functioning. Disease control and management of the symptoms are important to minimize disability and pain. Specialist clinical nurses play a key role in supporting medical teams, recognizing poor disease control and the need for treatment changes, providing a resource to patients on treatment options and access to additional support and advice, and identifying best practices to achieve optimal outcomes for patients and their families. This highlights the importance of investigating follow-up telenursing (TN) consultations with experienced, specialist clinical nurses in rheumatology to provide this support to children and their families.

METHODS/DESIGN

This randomized crossover, experimental longitudinal study will compare the effects of standard care against a novel telenursing consultation on children's and family outcomes. It will examine children below 16 years old, recently diagnosed with inflammatory rheumatic diseases, who attend the pediatric rheumatology outpatient clinic of a tertiary referral hospital in western Switzerland, and one of their parents. The telenursing consultation, at least once a month, by a qualified, experienced, specialist nurse in pediatric rheumatology will consist of providing affective support, health information, and aid to decision-making. Cox's Interaction Model of Client Health Behavior serves as the theoretical framework for this study. The primary outcome measure is satisfaction and this will be assessed using mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative data). Secondary outcome measures include disease activity, quality of life, adherence to treatment, use of the telenursing service, and cost. We plan to enroll 56 children.

DISCUSSION

The telenursing consultation is designed to support parents and children/adolescents during the course of the disease with regular follow-up. This project is novel because it is based on a theoretical standardized intervention, yet it allows for individualized care. We expect this trial to confirm the importance of support by a clinical specialist nurse in improving outcomes for children and adolescents with inflammatory rheumatisms.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrial.gov identifier: NCT01511341 (December 1st, 2012).

A European network of email and telephone help lines providing information and support on rare diseases: results from a 1-month activity survey

BACKGROUND

Information on rare diseases are often complex to understand, or difficult to access and additional support is often necessary. Rare diseases helplines work together across Europe to respond to calls and emails from the public at large, including patients, health care professionals, families, and students. Measuring the activity of helplines can help decision makers to allocate adequate funds when deciding to create or expand an equivalent service.

OBJECTIVE

Data presented are referred to a monthly user profile analysis, which is one of the activities that each helpline has to carry out to be part of the network. This survey aimed to explore the information requests and characteristics of users of rare diseases helplines in different European countries. Another aim was to analyze these data with respect to users' characteristics, helpline characteristics, topics of the inquiries, and technologies used to provide information. With this survey, we measure data that are key for planning information services on rare diseases in the context of the development of national plans for rare diseases.

METHODS

A survey was conducted based on all calls, emails, visits, or letters received from November 1 to 30, 2012 to monitor the activity represented by 12 helplines. Data were collected by a common standardized form, using ORPHA Codes for rare diseases, when applicable. No personal data identifying the inquirer were collected. It was a descriptive approach documenting on the number and purpose of inquiries, the number of respondents, the mode of contact, the category of the inquirer in relation to the patient, the inquirer's gender, age and region of residence, the patient's age when applicable, the type and duration of response, and the satisfaction as scored by the respondents.

RESULTS

A total of 1676 calls, emails, or letters were received from November 1 to 30, 2012. Inquiries were mostly about specific diseases. An average of 23 minutes was spent for each inquiry. The inquirer was a patient in 571/1676 inquiries (ie, 34.07% of all cases; 95% CI 31.8-36.3). Other inquirers included relatives (520/1676, 31.03%; 95% CI 28.9-33.3), health care professionals (354/1676, 21.12%; 95% CI 19.2-23.1), and miscellaneous inquirers (230/1676, 13.72%; 95% CI 12.1-15.4). Telephone remained the main mode of contact (988/1676, 58.95%; 95% CI 56.6-61.3), followed by emails (609/1676, 36.34%; 95% CI 34.0-38.6). The three main reasons of inquiries were to acquire about information on the disease (682/2242, 30.42%; 95% CI 27.8-32.1), a specialized center/expert (404/2242, 18.02%; 95% CI 15.9-19.6), and social care (240/2242, 10.70%; 95% CI 9.1-12.0).

CONCLUSIONS

The helplines service responds to the demands of the public, however more inquiry-categories could be responded to. This leaves the possibility to expand the scope of the helplines, for example by providing assistance to patients when they are reporting suspected adverse drug reactions as provided by Directive 2010/84/EU or by providing information on patients' rights to cross-border care, as provided by Directive 2010/24/EU.

Out-of-clinic patient communication in paediatric rheumatology: the extent and nature of demand

BACKGROUND

Traditional funding models for public paediatric rheumatology care are typically based on providing medical services for a defined number of clinics per week. Anecdotally there is significant demand by patients and families for out-of-clinic communication with care providers and services provided under traditional funding models may not meet this need. Our aim was to determine the extent and nature of this 'hidden' demand in a tertiary paediatric rheumatology centre.

METHODS

Communication data and diagnoses were extracted from the Rheumatology service database at our centre for the period 1/1/2009 to 31/12/2011. Clinical activity data over the same time were obtained from hospital clinic databases.

RESULTS

There were 5672 instances of communication with 749 patients/families over 3 years, (mean 7.3/weekday). This increased over time in parallel with clinical activity. 41% of clinic patients sought communication with the team out of clinic hours. 58% were telephone calls, 36% emails and 6% letters. The communication topics were for advice, results or general updates (28%), medication queries (24%), appointment/admission coordination (20%), disease flare or other disease events (14%), psychosocial, school or transition issues (6%) and miscellaneous queries (8%). Of the most frequent communicators, those with juvenile idiopathic arthritis were the majority (85%). The remainder had other chronic inflammatory conditions.

CONCLUSIONS

The communication and support needs of patients with chronic rheumatic diseases and their families extend beyond that which can be provided in the clinic environment. It is essential that funding for paediatric rheumatology services allows for staffing sufficient to meet this need.

Improving Communication Between Patients and Providers Using Health Information Technology and Other Quality Improvement Strategies: Focus on Low-Income Children

Effective communication between providers and patients has been linked to improved outcomes. Previous reviews of quality improvement strategies, including health information technology (health IT), have not focused on the needs of low-income children. The authors conducted a systematic review of the literature on studies of communication surrounding the care of low-income children, with an emphasis on interventions and health IT.The search yielded six studies that focused on low-income children; three of the studies used health IT. Key informant interviews provided insight to the current use of health IT for provider—patient communication in geographically diverse, underresourced settings.The authors identify gaps between existing literature and clinical practice. Future research should focus on the specific impact of health IT in pediatric medicine, particularly in underresourced and safety net settings. These efforts should focus on the use of technological innovations to improve care for low-income children and their families.

Parental satisfaction with follow-up services for children with major anatomical congenital anomalies

BACKGROUND

Since 1999 a multidisciplinary follow-up programme for parents and children with major anatomical congenital anomalies is in place in our hospital, run by a dedicated team. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the services of this team from a parental perspective.

METHODS

Parents completed a questionnaire including open and closed questions about satisfaction with the various professional disciplines involved in the follow-up, statements on usefulness of the follow-up services and suggestions for improvement.

RESULTS

Four hundred and sixty-nine surveys were sent out, of which 71% were returned. Non-responding parents included significantly more parents of non-Dutch origin (P= 0.038) and parents who never responded to invitations for follow-up examinations (P < 0.001). Parental satisfaction differed for the various disciplines. Eighty per cent of the parents were (very) satisfied with the social worker, compared with 92% with nurses. More than half of the parents agreed that the follow-up services give peace of mind. Almost a quarter of parents, however, considered the follow-up services as redundant. The children of these parents had significantly shorter intensive care unit stay (P= 0.02), were older at the time of the questionnaire (P= 0.04), of higher socio-economic status (P= 0.001) and less likely to be of non-Dutch origin (P= 0.008). Sixty-one per cent of the parents had contacted the 24-h helpline. Ninety per cent of the parents were satisfied with the intensive care unit, almost 80% with the general ward.

CONCLUSION

Overall, parents were satisfied with the services of the follow-up team. Some parents, however, saw room for improvement related to better communication, recognizability of the team and better planning and organization.