Acceptability of a parental early warning tool for parents of infants with complex congenital heart disease: a qualitative feasibility study

Enhancing discharge preparation for parents after complex cardiac surgery: evaluation of an e-learning resource for nurses

Parents need to be appropriately prepared by knowledgeable healthcare professionals before going home with their infant following cardiac surgery for complex congenital heart disease (CHD). A quality improvement project was undertaken between 2018 and 2021 to equip healthcare professionals including children's cardiac nurses with the knowledge required to use the Congenital Heart Assessment Tool (CHAT) to teach parents how to monitor their infant at home. The project involved developing, implementing and evaluating an e-learning resource that included simulated scenarios captured on video. An online survey showed that users perceived the e-learning resource as having a positive effect on their understanding of complex CHD and their practice of preparing parents for discharge and home monitoring.

Parents' Journeys of Mastery and Knowledge Construction After Their Infant's First Stage of Surgery for Complex Congenital Heart Disease

BACKGROUND

A growing body of conceptual evidence over the last decade has increased our understanding of parents' experiences of having an infant with complex congenital heart disease. These concepts include parents' feelings of uncertainty, fear, excitement, and mastery. However, little is known about parents' experiences, confidence, and knowledge acquisition during transition from hospital to home with their infant after the first stage of complex cardiac surgery. A theoretical framework to assess, plan and implement child and family centered care would assist children's cardiac nurses responsible for parental education, discharge planning and coordination.

AIM

To explore parents' experiences of the transition from hospital to home with their infant, following the first stage of cardiac surgery.

DESIGN

A prospective mixed methods longitudinal design. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken, including administration of the Maternal Confidence Questionnaire at four timepoints: before discharge following stage one cardiac surgery (T0), 2 weeks' post discharge (T1), 8 weeks' post discharge (T2) and after stage two surgery (T3). Qualitative data were thematically analyzed. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the sample and non-parametric repeated measures analysis of variance was used to analyze changes over time in maternal confidence scores.

RESULTS

Sixteen parents of 12 infants participated. Four "patterns of transition experience" emerged, the fourth "Mastery", is discussed in this paper. Mastery can be contextualized in terms of the parents' journeys of knowledge construction, gaining confidence and reflection. Learning was dynamic and transformational, but successful learning and acquisition of knowledge was also dependent upon the parents' ability to absorb, integrate and adjust at any given time. Confidence at T0 was significantly lower than at T1 (p = .011), T2 (p = .018) and T3 (p = .012). There were no significant differences between scores at T1, T2 and T3. Liminality, as a concept, described the between and betwixt time that parents experienced as they were preparing for discharge from hospital; excitement to be going home balanced with the fear of being alone and confidence in looking after their fragile infant.

CONCLUSION

Parents of infants with complex congenital heart disease obtain knowledge, confidence, and mastery dependent upon their transition experience and their personal journey through pre-liminal, liminal, and post-liminal phases of discharge from hospital to home. A conceptual framework "Parenting through Transitions - hospital to home" emerged that could assist in structuring assessment of parents' knowledge and support needs within a coordinated discharge process. Identifying individualized support would promote adaptation and adjustment during transition from the pre to post liminal phase, following their infant's first stage of complex cardiac surgery.

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.

Heart OBServation app: development of a decision support tool for parents of infants with severe cardiac disease

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Many parents of infants with CHD find it difficult to recognise symptoms of deterioration in their children. Therefore, a personalised decision support application for parents has been developed. This application aims to increase parents' awareness of their infant's normal condition, help them assess signs of deterioration, decide who and when to contact health services, and what to report. The aim of this paper is to describe the concept and report results from a usability study.

METHODS

An interprofessional group developed a mobile application called the Heart OBServation app in close collaboration with parents using an iterative process. We performed a usability study consisting of semi-structured interviews of 10 families at discharge and after one month and arranged two focus group interviews with nurses caring for these families. A thematic framework analysis of the interviews explored the usability of features in the application. Usability was assessed twice using the System Usability Scale, and a user log was registered throughout the study.

RESULTS

The overall system usability score, 82.3 after discharge and 81.7 after one month, indicates good system usability. The features of Heart OBServation were perceived as useful to provide tailored information, increase awareness of the child's normal condition, and to guide parents in what to look for. To empower parents, an interactive discharge checklist was added.

CONCLUSIONS

The Heart OBServation demonstrated good usability and was well received by parents and nurses. Feasibility and benefits of this application in clinical practice will be investigated in further studies.

Are Parent Discharge Readiness Scores Effective for the Congenital Heart Disease Patients After Cardiac Surgery?

OBJECTIVE

To assess discharge readiness and clinical engagement post-discharge in familes of children undergoing congenital heart surgery (CHS).

STUDY DESIGN

This prospective cross-sectional study was performed at a major tertiary pediatric cardiac referral center. Eligible parents and caregivers completed a discharge readiness tool, the Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale for Parents of Hospitalized Children (PedRHDS), via online survey on the day of discharge. Clinical engagement data included subsequent phone calls, clinic visits, emergency department (ED) visits, and hospital readmissions. PedRHDS scores were measured as follows: Very High (9-10), High (8-8.9), Moderate (7-7.9), and Low (<7). Descriptive statistics were used to describe demographic data.

RESULTS

128 families enrolled between April and December 2021. Parent discharge readiness scores ranged from 'High' to 'Very High.' Families with lower socioeconomic status and younger patients (especially single ventricle infants or "interstage") had a higher proportion of clinic visits, ED visits, and hospital readmissions within 30-days post-discharge compared with other groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Discharge readiness scores were not associated with clinical engagement. We identified vulnerable populations as evidenced by a higher frequency of clinical engagement in the immediate post-operative period, particularly younger patients and first time surgeries. While these visits may be appropriate, novel programs could enhance education and emotional support to prevent delay in seeking care or creating excessive stress and anxiety after discharge.

Acceptability and Initial Adoption of the Heart Observation App for Infants with Congenital Heart Disease: A Qualitative Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND

Approximately 1% of all infants are born with a congenital heart disease (CHD). Internationally CHD remains a major cause of infant death, some of which occur unexpectedly after a gradual deterioration at home. Many parents find it difficult to recognize worsening of symptoms.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to report the acceptability and initial adoption of a mobile app, the Heart Observation app (HOBS), aiming to support parents' understanding and management of their child's condition and to increase quality in follow-up from health care professionals in complex health care services in Norway.

METHODS

A total of 9 families were interviewed on discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit and after 1 month at home. The infant's primary nurse, community nurse, and cardiologist were also interviewed regarding their experiences about collaboration with the family. The interviews were analyzed inductively with thematic content analysis.

RESULTS

The analysis generated 4 main themes related to acceptability and adoption: (1) Individualize Initial Support, (2) Developing Confidence and Coping, (3) Normalize When Appropriate, and (4) Implementation in a Complex Service Pathway. The receptivity of parents to learn and attend in the intervention differs according to their present situation. Health care professionals emphasized the importance of adapting the introduction and guidance to parents' receptivity to ensure comprehension, self-efficacy, and thereby acceptance before discharge (Individualize Initial Support). Parents perceived that HOBS served them well and nurtured confidence by teaching them what to be aware of. Health care professionals reported most parents as confident and informed. This potential effect increased the possibility of adoption (Developing Confidence and Coping). Parents expressed that HOBS was not an "everyday app" and wanted to normalize everyday life when appropriate. Health care professionals suggested differentiating use according to severity and reducing assessments after recovery to adapt the burden of assessments when appropriate (Normalize When Appropriate). Health care professionals' attitude to implement HOBS in their services was positive. They perceived HOBS as useful to systemize guidance, to enhance communication regarding an infant's condition, and to increase understanding of heart defects in health care professionals with sparse experience (Implementation in a Complex Service Pathway).

CONCLUSIONS

This feasibility study shows that both parents and health care professionals found HOBS as a positive addition to the health care system and follow-up. HOBS was accepted and potentially useful, but health care professionals should guide parents initially to ensure comprehension and adapt timing to parents' receptivity. By doing so, parents may be confident to know what to look for regarding their child's health and cope at home. Differentiating between various diagnoses and severity is important to support normalization when appropriate. Further controlled studies are needed to assess adoption, usefulness, and benefits in the health care system.

Parents' process of recognition and response to clinical deterioration of their children with medical complexity at home: A grounded theory

AIM

To explore the process of recognition and response to clinical deterioration of children with medical complexity at home by their parents.

BACKGROUND

Children with medical complexity are characterised by known chronic conditions associated with frailty and functional limitations, dependence on healthcare services and high use of technology and resources. Their medical complexity often leads to the onset of complications. Targeted care ensures timely recognition and response to clinical deterioration at home, thus avoiding serious sequelae, inappropriate hospitalisations and improving quality of life. Evidence on parents' process of the recognition and response to clinical deterioration at home is limited.

DESIGN

Qualitative study using a Grounded Theory methodology.

METHOD

Seven online focus groups were conducted with parents and healthcare providers experienced in their care. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed through open, axial and selective coding, using a constant comparative iterative method. The COREQ guidelines guided the reporting of this work.

RESULTS

Four categories and one core category were identified: (1) Awareness of the unique and shared characteristics of children with medical complexity; (2) Parents' care maintenance and management; (3) Parents' care monitoring; (4) Parents' response to clinical deterioration and (5) Seeking the Shift of Agency, the core category as the foundation of the Process of Recognition and rEsponse of PAREnts to Deterioration (PRE-PARE-D) theory.

CONCLUSION

The role of parents of children with medical complexity is evolving into active care leaders, by developing care management and care monitoring competences and negotiating care with healthcare providers.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

The shift of agency from healthcare providers to parents requires education and counselling pathways to promote the development of parent's self-efficacy, competencies and empowerment in the care management of their children. Home care delivery for children with medical complexity should aim at sustaining this partnership between healthcare providers and parents.

Evaluating the congenital heart assessment tool: a quality improvement project

BACKGROUND

An early warning tool, the Congenital Heart Assessment Tool (CHAT), was designed in 2012 to support parental preparation before discharge, enhancing understanding of their infant's complex CHD, the signs of deterioration to look out for and to support decision-making at home. Acceptability and feasibility of the tool were tested during 2013-2015 in a single centre.

AIM OF THIS PROJECT

To evaluate the wider implementation across four children's cardiac centres of the CHAT for infants with complex CHD in the community setting.

DESIGN

A four-centre collaborative mixed-methods quality improvement project funded by The Health Foundation, during 2016-2018. A plan, do, study, act cycle of improvement was employed. This article reports on the planning phases, creation of a modified tool (CHATm); and the implementation phases, including retrospective case note review using CHATm; tabletop simulation exercise using CHATm and clinical implementation of CHATm.

RESULTS

Key findings included the benefit of using CHATm simulation for practitioners; the effectiveness of CHATm in predicting amber and red triggers, indicating parental actions and escalation of concerns to professionals. Parents using CHATm found it enhanced knowledge in preparation for going home, supported decision-making, and discussions with health care professionals.

CONCLUSION

Using the CHATm clinically identified the need to develop a structured model of assessment of parental suitability for home-monitoring programmes. A robust and nationally agreed training programme for all staff using CHATm was recommended to ensure successful and complete implementation in practice.

Performance of a single-ventricle home-monitoring programme: survival and predictors of adverse outcome

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Mortality between stages 1 and 2 single-ventricle palliation is significant. Home-monitoring programmes are suggested to reduce mortality. Outcomes and risk factors for adverse outcomes for European programmes have not been published.

AIMS

To evaluate the performance of a home-monitoring programme at a medium-sized United Kingdom centre with regards survival and compare performance with other home-monitoring programmes in the literature.

METHODS

All fetal and postnatal diagnosis of a single ventricle were investigated with in-depth analysis of those undergoing stage 1 palliation and entered the home-monitoring programme between 2016 and 2020. The primary outcome was survival. Secondary outcomes included multiple parameters as potential predictors of death or adverse outcome.

RESULTS

Of 217 fetal single-ventricle diagnoses during the period 2016-2020, 50.2% progressed to live birth, 35.4% to stage 1 and 29.5% to stage 2. Seventy-four patients (including 10 with postnatal diagnosis) entered the home-monitoring programme with six deaths making home-monitoring programme mortality 8.1%. Risk factors for death were the hybrid procedure as the only primary procedure (OR 33.0, p < 0.01), impaired cardiac function (OR 10.3, p < 0.025), Asian ethnicity (OR 9.3, p < 0.025), lower mean birth-weight (2.69 kg versus 3.31 kg, p < 0.01), and lower mean weight centiles during interstage follow-up (mean centiles of 3.1 versus 10.8, p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

Survival in the home-monitoring programme is comparable with other home-monitoring programmes in the literature. Hybrid procedure, cardiac dysfunction, sub-optimal weight gain, and Asian ethnicity were significant risk factors for death. Home-monitoring programmes should continue to raise awareness of these factors and seek solutions to mitigate adverse events. Future work to generalise home-monitoring programme and single-ventricle fetus to stage 2 outcomes in the United Kingdom will require multi-centre collaboration.

An improved congenital heart assessment tool: a quality improvement outcome

BACKGROUND

CHD was the most prevalent congenital anomaly (60.9 per 10,000, 95% CI 59.0-62.8) in England in 2018, with 1767 babies born with severe cardiac defects. The 30-day survival rates for complex procedures continue to improve; however despite care advances, the early post-operative period and first year of life remain a critical time for these infants. The Congenital Heart Assessment Tool was developed to support parental decision-making, standardise care provision, improve communication, and the safety and quality of care.

AIM

To further evaluate the Congenital Heart Assessment Tool.

DESIGN

A four centre collaborative mixed-methods quality improvement project funded by The Health Foundation, involving eight phases conducted during 2016-2018. Phases six to eight (clinical simulation exercise, parent workshop, and updated tool) are reported in this paper.

RESULTS

Four themes emerged from the clinical simulation exercise (phase six) including: improving documentation; preparation of parents; preparation of health care professionals; and communication. One main theme emerged from the parent workshop (phase seven): "what parents know versus what professionals know [about CHD]".

CONCLUSION

These phases further validated the effectiveness of the CHATm in terms of triggering amber and red indicators and demonstrated parents' ability to identify deterioration in their infant's clinical condition. Recommendations arising from the quality improvement project enabled the project team to create an updated version of the Congenital Heart Assessment Tool, CHAT2.

Parents' Interactive Problem-Solving Behavior and Emotion Studied With Audio Compared With Video Source

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Parents' communication and problem-solving interaction with each other and with clinicians influences the caregiving of infants with a chronic health problem, making in-depth study of this interaction critical for design of interventions to support caregiving. This study, however, has been severely limited by lack of observational methods that can be applied in home, clinic and community settings. The Iowa Family Interaction Rating Scales provide comprehensive description of communicative and problem-solving behavior and emotion, but have only been applied to video-recorded interaction. Audio recording, in contrast to video recording, has the advantage of being unobtrusive, readily accessible, and generally acceptable, increasing the opportunity for focused examination and intervention of parents' interaction with each other or with clinicians. Our study objective was to examine the agreement of scores obtained on parents' interactive problem-solving behavior coded with the Iowa Family Interaction Rating Scales using an audio-recorded source for coding compared with coding from a video-recorded source.

METHOD

In secondary analysis, audio-recordings were derived from video recordings of 15 parent-parent interactions. Audio recordings were created and coded blind of the original video recording and coding.

RESULTS

Using Gwet's AC1 coefficient, agreement was at least moderate (0.61 - 0.80) for 69.1% of paired codes, signifying reliability of coding from audio recording for most codes.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Selected Iowa Family Interaction Rating Scales can be used with acceptable reliability for coding parents' interactive problem-solving behavior from audio source, advancing the study of parent interactive-problem solving behavior and potentially parents' problem solving with clinicians.

Unexpected death in children with severe congenital heart defects in Norway 2004-2016

AIMS

Updated knowledge on the rates and causes of death among children with severe congenital heart defects (CHDs) is needed to further improve treatment and survival. This study investigated nationwide mortality rates in children with severe CHDs with an emphasis on unexpected mortality unrelated to cardiac intervention.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Data on all pregnancies and live-born children in Norway from 2004 to 2016 were obtained from national registries, the Oslo University Hospital's Clinical Registry for CHDs and medical records. Among 2359 live-born children with severe CHDs, 234 (10%) died before 2 years of age. Of these, 109 (46%) died in palliative care, 58 (25%) died of causes related to a cardiac intervention and 67 (29%) died unexpectedly and unrelated to a cardiac intervention, either before (n=26) or following (n=41) discharge after a cardiac intervention. Comorbidity (38/67, 57%), persistent low oxygen saturation (SaO₂; <95%; 41/67, 61%), staged surgery (21/41, 51%), residual cardiac defects (22/41, 54%) and infection (36/67, 54%) were frequent in children who died unexpectedly unrelated to an intervention. Two or more of these factors were present in 62 children (93%). The medical reports at hospital discharge lacked information on follow-up in many patients who died unexpectedly.

CONCLUSIONS

The numbers of unexpected deaths unrelated to cardiac intervention in children <2 years of age without comorbidity were low in Norway. However, close follow-up is recommended for infants with comorbidities, persistent low oxygen saturation, staged surgery or residual cardiac defects, particularly when an infection occurs.

State of the science of care coordination, rurality, and well-being for infants with single ventricle heart disease in the Interstage period, an integrative review

BACKGROUND

Ensuring the quality of interstage management of infants with single ventricle heart disease (SVHD) residing in rural communities is difficult. Tailored care coordination through parental discharge education, formal and informal care team and family communication, adequate access to healthcare, and informed provider handoffs are crucial to the infant's well-being and survival.

OBJECTIVE

To discuss the state of the science related to care coordination factors and infant wellbeing during the interstage period.

METHODS

An integrative review approach to synthesize findings across studies was used. Through constant comparative analysis, all articles were read and coded, broken down into "data bits" or key phrases.

RESULTS

Four major themes were inductively derived: 1) education and confidence-building, 2) communication for building relationships, 3) social work and related mental health support, and 4) availability of resources.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite advances in cardiac surgery and related interventions, a clear gap exists regarding care coordination factors and infant well-being, especially in rural communities.

Parents' Experiences of Transition From Hospital to Home After Their Infant's First-Stage Cardiac Surgery: Psychological, Physical, Physiological, and Financial Survival

BACKGROUND

The intersurgical stage is a critical time for fragile infants with complex congenital heart disease, but little is known about the impact on parents.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to explore parents' experiences of the transition from hospital to home with their infant after stage 1 cardiac surgery for complex congenital heart disease.

METHOD

This is a prospective, longitudinal, mixed methods feasibility study using semistructured interviews and self-report instruments at 4 time points: before discharge (baseline), 2 weeks post discharge, 8 weeks post discharge, and after stage 2 surgery. Qualitative data were analyzed thematically; and quantitative data, descriptively.

RESULTS

Sixteen parents of 12 infants participated. All parents described signs of acute stress disorder; 4 parents described symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder before discharge. Parents' fear and uncertainty about going home were multifaceted, underpinned by exposure to numerous traumatic events. By 8 weeks post discharge, parents' feelings and emotions were positive, relieved, and relaxed. Mean generalized anxiety and depression scores were higher before discharge; most individual anxiety and depression scores decreased over time. Physiological survival included self-care needs, such as eating and sleeping properly. Physical survival included preparation of the home environment and home alterations adapting to their infant's equipment needs. Financial survival was a burden, particularly for those unable to return to work.

CONCLUSION

Patterns of experience in surviving the transition included psychological, physical, physiological, and financial factors. Authors of further longitudinal research could test the effectiveness of psychological preparation interventions, while encouraging early consideration of the other factors influencing parents' care of their infant after discharge from hospital.

Care of infants, children and adults with congenital heart disease

Congenital heart disease refers to an anatomical or physiological defect of the heart that is present at birth. Over the past three decades there have been significant advances in surgical, medical and nursing care for infants and children requiring cardiac surgery for congenital heart disease. This has meant that the number of adults with moderate and complex congenital heart disease now exceeds the number of children with the disease. This article details the background and diagnosis of congenital heart disease. It considers the implications for infants and children with congenital heart disease, as well as their parents, such as screening methods, risk factors, parental stress and psychosocial needs. This article also discusses the care of adults with congenital heart disease, including specialist monitoring and patient education.

Severe illness getting noticed sooner - SIGNS-for-Kids: developing an illness recognition tool to connect home and hospital

Background

Delays to definitive treatment for time-sensitive acute paediatric illnesses continue to be a cause of death and disability in the Canadian healthcare system. Our aim was to develop the SIGNS-for-Kids illness recognition tool to empower parents and other community caregivers to recognise the signs and symptoms of severe illness in infants and children. The goal of the tool is improved detection and reduced time to treatment of acute conditions that require emergent medical attention.

Methods

A single-day consensus workshop consisting of a 17-member panel of parents and multidisciplinary healthcare experts with content expertise and/or experience managing children with severe acute illnesses was held. An a priori agreement of ≥85% was planned for the final iteration SIGNS-for-Kids tool elements by the end of the workshop.

Results

One hundred percent consensus was achieved on a five-item tool distilled from 20 initial items at the beginning of the consensus workshop. The final items included four child-based items consisting of: (1) behaviour, (2) breathing, (3) skin, and (4) fluids, and one context-based item and (5) response to rescue treatments.

Conclusions

Specific cues of urgent child illness were identified as part of this initial development phase. These cues were integrated into a comprehensive tool designed for parents and other lay caregivers to recognise the signs of serious acute illness and initiate medical attention in an undifferentiated population of infants and children. Future validation and optimisation of the tool are planned.

WASP (Write a Scientific Paper): Qualitative research and evidence based practice: implications and contributions

Qualitative methodologies are commonly used in the social sciences. This paper discusses how this type of research can enhance evidence-based practice in health care settings. Examples taken from qualitative studies are included in order to demonstrate how such research can be applied to medical settings. Additionally, this paper describes some of the unique characteristics inherent in qualitative research.