Ethical Considerations in Critically Ill Neonatal and Pediatric Patients

The care of critically ill neonates and pediatric patients can be particularly emotionally and ethically challenging. Emerging evidence suggests that we can improve the patient, family, and care team experience in the critical care setting through a better understanding and application of ethical frameworks and communication strategies. We conducted a multidisciplinary panel session at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition in the fall of 2022 wherein we explored a myriad of ethical and communication considerations in this unique patient population, with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) as the congenital anomaly/disease framework. In this review, we will cover state of the art topics in ethics, communication, and palliative care including basic terminology, communication strategies such as trauma-informed communication, establishing/evolving goals of care, futility, medically inappropriate treatment, ethical frameworks, parental discretion, establishing milestones, internal/external intentions, and re-direction of care. These topics will be helpful to many specialties who are involved in the care of critically ill neonates and children including maternal fetal medicine, pediatrics, neonatology, pediatric critical care, palliative care, and pediatric surgery, along with the pediatric surgical subspecialties. We use a theoretical CDH case as an example and include the live audience responses from the interactive session. This primer provides overarching educational principles, as well as practical communication concepts, that can cultivate compassionate multidisciplinary teams, equipped to optimize family-centered, evidence-based compassionate communication and care.

Computer clinical decision support that automates personalized clinical care: a challenging but needed healthcare delivery strategy

How to deliver best care in various clinical settings remains a vexing problem. All pertinent healthcare-related questions have not, cannot, and will not be addressable with costly time- and resource-consuming controlled clinical trials. At present, evidence-based guidelines can address only a small fraction of the types of care that clinicians deliver. Furthermore, underserved areas rarely can access state-of-the-art evidence-based guidelines in real-time, and often lack the wherewithal to implement advanced guidelines. Care providers in such settings frequently do not have sufficient training to undertake advanced guideline implementation. Nevertheless, in advanced modern healthcare delivery environments, use of eActions (validated clinical decision support systems) could help overcome the cognitive limitations of overburdened clinicians. Widespread use of eActions will require surmounting current healthcare technical and cultural barriers and installing clinical evidence/data curation systems. The authors expect that increased numbers of evidence-based guidelines will result from future comparative effectiveness clinical research carried out during routine healthcare delivery within learning healthcare systems.

Diagnostic accuracy among trainees to safely confirm peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) placement using bedside ultrasound

BACKGROUND

Real-time utilization of ultrasound to confirm peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) placement improves efficacy and reduces patient radiation exposure. We evaluated if novice ultrasound users could accurately confirm appropriate PICC tip location via ultrasound assessment.

METHODOLOGY

A prospective data collection study was conducted in an academic center with an established PICC team. Novice ultrasonography users performed 2 echocardiographic views (subcostal and apical 4 chamber) and noted position of visible wire. The presence of central bubbles (visualized in the heart) after a saline infusion, as well as time to bubbles (push-to-bubbles) seen in all patients, was also recorded. Image quality and confidence in imaging acquisition was also recorded.

RESULTS

Twenty-eight patients between ages 0 and 18 were enrolled over the study period with mean patient age of 10 years and median weight of 34 kg. The quality of image acquisition was rated as great only 34-44%. The wire was visualized only 25% of the time. The median push-to-bubble time when the PICC was later confirmed to be in appropriate positioning was 1.5 seconds with a delay of greater than 3 seconds 40% of the time when the line was malpositioned. The overall positive predictive value of ultrasound identifying malpositioned lines in this study was 43%.

CONCLUSIONS

With this PICC placement technique, ultrasound confirmation of PICC placement by novice ultrasound users was not superior to confirmation with chest radiograph. There may remain potential for future ultrasound protocols, with pediatric-specific technology or echogenic catheter tips, to reduce radiation exposure from chest radiograph during PICC line positioning verification.

Enabling a learning healthcare system with automated computer protocols that produce replicable and personalized clinician actions

Clinical decision-making is based on knowledge, expertise, and authority, with clinicians approving almost every intervention-the starting point for delivery of "All the right care, but only the right care," an unachieved healthcare quality improvement goal. Unaided clinicians suffer from human cognitive limitations and biases when decisions are based only on their training, expertise, and experience. Electronic health records (EHRs) could improve healthcare with robust decision-support tools that reduce unwarranted variation of clinician decisions and actions. Current EHRs, focused on results review, documentation, and accounting, are awkward, time-consuming, and contribute to clinician stress and burnout. Decision-support tools could reduce clinician burden and enable replicable clinician decisions and actions that personalize patient care. Most current clinical decision-support tools or aids lack detail and neither reduce burden nor enable replicable actions. Clinicians must provide subjective interpretation and missing logic, thus introducing personal biases and mindless, unwarranted, variation from evidence-based practice. Replicability occurs when different clinicians, with the same patient information and context, come to the same decision and action. We propose a feasible subset of therapeutic decision-support tools based on credible clinical outcome evidence: computer protocols leading to replicable clinician actions (eActions). eActions enable different clinicians to make consistent decisions and actions when faced with the same patient input data. eActions embrace good everyday decision-making informed by evidence, experience, EHR data, and individual patient status. eActions can reduce unwarranted variation, increase quality of clinical care and research, reduce EHR noise, and could enable a learning healthcare system.

Long-Term Implications of Abnormal Left Ventricular Strain During Sepsis

OBJECTIVES

Septic cardiomyopathy develops frequently in patients with sepsis and likely increases short-term mortality. However, whether septic cardiomyopathy is associated with long-term outcomes after sepsis is unknown. We investigated whether septic patients with septic cardiomyopathy have worse long-term outcomes than septic patients without septic cardiomyopathy.

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study.

SETTING

Adult ICU.

PATIENTS

Adult ICU patients with sepsis.

INTERVENTIONS

None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Left ventricular global longitudinal systolic strain was our primary measure of septic cardiomyopathy. We employed a suite of multivariable survival analyses to explore linear and nonlinear associations between left ventricular global longitudinal systolic strain and major adverse cardiovascular events, which included death, stroke, and myocardial infarction. Our primary outcome was major adverse cardiovascular event through 24 months after ICU discharge. Among 290 study patients, median left ventricular global longitudinal systolic strain was -16.8% (interquartile range, -20.4% to -12.6%), and 38.3% of patients (n = 111) experienced a major adverse cardiovascular event within 24 months after discharge. On our primary, linear analysis, there was a trend (p = 0.08) toward association between left ventricular global longitudinal systolic strain and major adverse cardiovascular event (odds ratio, 1.03; CI, < 1 to 1.07). On our nonlinear analysis, the association was highly significant (p < 0.001) with both high and low left ventricular global longitudinal systolic strain associated with major adverse cardiovascular event among patients with pre-existing cardiac disease. This association was pronounced among patients who were younger (age < 65 yr) and had Charlson Comorbidity Index greater than 5.

CONCLUSIONS

Among patients with sepsis and pre-existing cardiac disease who survived to ICU discharge, left ventricular global longitudinal systolic strain demonstrated a U-shaped association with cardiovascular outcomes through 24 months. The relationship was especially strong among younger patients with more comorbidities. These observations are likely of use to design of future trials.

Design and rationale of Heart and Lung Failure - Pediatric INsulin Titration Trial (HALF-PINT): A randomized clinical trial of tight glycemic control in hyperglycemic critically ill children

Objectives

Test whether hyperglycemic critically ill children with cardiovascular and/or respiratory failure experience more ICU-free days when assigned to tight glycemic control with a normoglycemic versus hyperglycemic blood glucose target range.

Design

Multi-center randomized clinical trial.

Setting

Pediatric ICUs at 35 academic hospitals.

Patients

Children aged 2 weeks to 17 years receiving inotropic support and/or acute mechanical ventilation, excluding cardiac surgical patients.

Interventions

Patients receive intravenous insulin titrated to either 80–110 mg/dL (4.4–6.1 mmol/L) or 150–180 mg/dL (8.3–10.0 mmol/L). The intervention begins upon confirmed hyperglycemia and ends when the patient meets study-defined ICU discharge criteria or after 28 days. Continuous glucose monitoring, a minimum glucose infusion, and an explicit insulin infusion algorithm are deployed to achieve the BG targets while minimizing hypoglycemia risk.

Measurements and main results

The primary outcome is ICU-free days (equivalent to 28-day hospital mortality-adjusted ICU length of stay). Secondary outcomes include 90-day hospital mortality, organ dysfunction scores, ventilator-free days, nosocomial infection rate, neurodevelopmental outcomes, and nursing workload. To detect an increase of 1.25 ICU-free days (corresponding to a 20% relative reduction in 28-day hospital mortality and a one-day reduction in ICU length of stay), 1414 patients are needed for 80% power using a two-sided 0.05 level test.

Conclusions

This trial tests whether hyperglycemic critically ill children randomized to 80–110 mg/dL benefit more than those randomized to 150–180 mg/dL. This study implements validated bedside support tools including continuous glucose monitoring and a computerized algorithm to enhance patient safety and ensure reproducible bedside decision-making in achieving glycemic control.

Tolerability of solifenacin and oxybutynin immediate release in older (> 65 years) and younger (≤ 65 years) patients with overactive bladder: sub-analysis from a Canadian, randomized, double-blind study

OBJECTIVE

Overactive bladder (OAB) is a common condition whose prevalence increases with age. Antimuscarinic agents are the pharmacologic treatment of choice, but adverse events such as dry mouth may lead to early discontinuation. The purpose of this analysis was to compare the incidence and severity of dry mouth and other adverse events with solifenacin 5 mg/day and oxybutynin immediate release (IR) 15 mg/day in patients ≤ 65 years and >65 years in the Canadian VECTOR study (VEsicare in Comparison To Oxybutynin for oveRactive bladder patients).

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

VECTOR was a randomized, multicentre, prospective, double-blind, double-dummy study in 132 subjects with ≥ 1 urgency episode per 24 h, with or without urgency incontinence, and ≥ 8 micturitions per 24 h for ≥ 3 months. After a 2-week washout, patients received solifenacin 5 mg once daily or oxybutynin IR 5 mg tid for 8 weeks. For the current post-hoc analysis, adverse events were evaluated in subgroups of patients ≤ 65 years and >65 years, using a full logistic regression model, multinomial logit regression model and reduced model.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION

NCT00431041.

RESULTS

The incidence and severity of dry mouth and other adverse events with solifenacin were similar between younger and older patients. In both age subgroups, solifenacin 5 mg/day was associated with fewer episodes and lower severity of dry mouth, and a lower discontinuation rate, compared with oxybutynin IR 15 mg/day.

CONCLUSIONS

Solifenacin 5 mg/day was better tolerated than oxybutynin IR 15 mg/day in younger (≤ 65 years) and older (> 65 years) subgroups. Solifenacin was equally well tolerated in both age subgroups. Limitations of the analysis were that the study was not preplanned to perform post-hoc subgroup analysis, patients knew that dry mouth was a primary outcome, and the study used fixed doses of each drug.

Right and left heart failure in severe H1N1 influenza A infection

Influenza infection can affect cardiac function. The recent pandemic of H1N1 influenza A provided an opportunity to study echocardiographic findings in critically ill infected patients. We hypothesised that critically ill patients with H1N1 infection would have a higher incidence of right and left heart failure than is seen in unselected populations of patients with septic shock and/or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). We retrospectively studied all patients admitted to four intensive care units at three hospitals in Salt Lake County, UT, USA, with laboratory-confirmed H1N1 infection in whom a clinical echocardiogram was available. 23 out of 48 patients had qualifying echocardiograms. Right ventricular (RV) dilatation (50-80%) and at least moderate systolic impairment (23%) were common, higher than the range described in general populations with ARDS. Left ventricular systolic dysfunction was present in 17% of patients. No single echocardiographic parameter was associated with 28-day mortality or ventilator-free days to 28 days. Critically ill patients with H1N1 infection frequently exhibit right heart dilatation and failure. RV basal dilatation was extremely common. These patients have less left heart failure than expected on the basis of prior descriptions of influenza myopericarditis or of general populations of septic patients.

Computer protocols: how to implement

Variation in clinical practice impedes control, is associated with unwanted and widespread error, and may preclude replicability. Methodologic replicability enhances our ability to detect signals of interest by both increasing the signal through consistent application of the intervention, and by reducing the obscuring effects of noise. Decision-support tools are intended to standardize some aspect of clinical care and thereby help lead to uniform implementation of clinical interventions. This is realized by explicit replicable computer protocols that can produce appropriate patient-specific decisions and introduce control of process into clinical care. Development of such protocols has required around-the-clock implementation for patient management because of the influence of patient history and previous patient states on the output of the computer protocol. Three successful computer protocols for management of blood glucose provide compelling examples. This clinician driven "bottom-up" approach complements the common information technology service driven "top-down" approach to clinical problems.

Multicenter validation of a computer-based clinical decision support tool for glucose control in adult and pediatric intensive care units

INTRODUCTION

Hyperglycemia during critical illness is common, and intravenous insulin therapy (IIT) to normalize blood glucose improves outcomes in selected populations. Methods differ widely in complexity, insulin dosing approaches, efficacy, and rates of hypoglycemia. We developed a simple bedside-computerized decision support protocol (eProtocol-insulin) that yields promising results in the development center. We examined the effectiveness and safety of this tool in six adult and five pediatric intensive care units (ICUs) in other centers.

METHODS

We required attending physicians of eligible patients to independently intend to use intravenous insulin to normalize blood glucose. We used eProtocol-insulin for glucose control for a duration determined by the clinical caregivers. Adults had an anticipated length of stay of 3 or more days. In pediatric ICUs, we also required support or intended support with mechanical ventilation for greater than 24 hours or with a vasoactive infusion. We recorded all instances in which eProtocol-insulin instructions were not accepted and all blood glucose values. An independent data safety and monitoring board monitored study results and subject safety. Bedside nurses were selected randomly to complete a paper survey describing their perceptions of quality of care and workload related to eProtocol-insulin use.

RESULTS

Clinicians accepted 93% of eProtocol-insulin instructions (11,773/12,645) in 100 adult and 48 pediatric subjects. Forty-eight percent of glucose values were in the target range. Both of these results met a priori-defined efficacy thresholds. Only 0.18% of glucose values were < or =40 mg/dl. This is lower than values reported in prior IIT studies. Although nurses reported eProtocol-insulin required as much work as managing a mechanical ventilator, most nurses felt eProtocol-insulin had a low impact on their ability to complete non-IIT nursing activities.

CONCLUSIONS

A multicenter validation demonstrated that eProtocol-insulin is a valid, exportable tool that can assist clinicians in achieving control of glucose in critically ill adults and children.

Evaluation and treatment of blunt renal trauma

We examined retrospectively the records of 126 patients with blunt renal trauma to determine the criteria for radiological investigations and the imaging study of choice. Of the 3,993 patients admitted to our regional trauma unit during the last 13 years 126 (3.1%) had blunt renal trauma. Mean patient age was 32 years (range 13 to 87 years) and the male-to-female ratio was 3:1. Mean followup was 7 months (median 4 months). Of the patients 72% had a minor renal injury, 17% had a moderate injury and 11% had a major renal injury. Treatment was conservative in 114 patients, while 9 underwent a genitourinary operation. Results were excellent in 87% of the patients and good in 8%, while 5% failed treatment. All patients who had microscopic hematuria without shock had minor injuries. Excretory urograms (IVPs) were normal in 74% and 39% of the patients when performed for minor and moderate renal injuries, respectively. Computerized tomography (CT) was abnormal in all cases when performed, and was more sensitive and specific than an IVP. Therefore, the majority of patients with blunt renal trauma can be treated conservatively with an excellent result. Furthermore, radiological investigations are not needed in those with microscopic hematuria and no shock. When radiological investigations are indicated a CT scan is the imaging study of choice.