Quality Improvement Increases Pediatric Community Hospital Smoking Cessation Interventions

BACKGROUND

Tobacco use commonly starts during adolescence and is the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States. Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure increases asthma and respiratory infection hospitalizations and contributes to sudden unexpected infant death. Few pediatric hospitalist-led smoking cessation studies are formal quality improvement (QI), with most at academic institutions and studying caregivers.

OBJECTIVES

To increase SHS exposure/tobacco use screening, smoking cessation discharge instructions, and Smokers' Helpline referrals for community hospital pediatric patients/caregivers through QI.

METHODS

All pediatric, newborn, and NICU admissions were eligible. The baseline period was December 2019 through November 2020 and intervention period December 2020 through June 2021. Interventions included hospitalist education, standardizing documentation, visual reminders, and Helpline wallet cards. The primary measure was monthly percentage of patients screened for SHS exposure/tobacco use. Secondary measures were percentage of patients/caregivers positive for SHS exposure/tobacco use who received (1) discharge instructions or (2) Helpline referral. Length of stay was a balancing measure. Primary and balancing measures were analyzed with statistical process control. Secondary measures were monitored on run charts.

RESULTS

Average SHS exposure/tobacco use screening rates increased from 14% to 90%, meeting special cause variation beginning December 2020. Median discharge instructions increased from 0% to 56%. Helpline referrals increased from 0% to 17%. Length of stay remained approximately 2 days.

CONCLUSIONS

Pediatrician-led QI can increase SHS exposure/tobacco use screening and interventions in the community hospital setting to encourage smoke exposure reduction and smoking cessation for patients and caregivers.

Measuring the impact of a "Virtual Pediatric Trauma Center" (VPTC) model of care using telemedicine for acutely injured children versus the standard of care: study protocol for a prospective stepped-wedge trial

BACKGROUND

The current standard of care in the treatment of children with physical trauma presenting to non-designated pediatric trauma centers is consultation with a pediatric trauma center by telephone. This includes contacting a pediatric trauma specialist and transferring any child with a potentially serious injury to a regionalized level I pediatric trauma center. This approach to care frequently results in medically unnecessary transfers and may place undue burdens on families. A newer model of care, the "Virtual Pediatric Trauma Center" (VPTC), uses telemedicine to make the expertise of a level I pediatric trauma center virtually available to any hospital. While the use of the VPTC model of care is increasing, there have been no studies comparing the VPTC to standard care of injured children at non-designated trauma centers with respect to patient- and family-centered outcomes. The goal of this study is to compare the current standard of care to the VPTC with respect to family-centered outcomes developed by parents and community advisory boards.

METHODS

We will use a stepped-wedge trial design to enroll children with physical trauma presenting to ten hospitals, including level II, level III, and non-designated trauma centers. The primary outcome measures are parent/family experience of care and distress 3 days following injury. Secondary aims include 30-day healthcare utilization, parent/family out-of-pocket costs at 3 days and 30 days after injury, transfer rates, and parent/family distress 30 days following injury. We expect at least 380 parents/families of children will be eligible for the study following an emergency department physician's request for a level I pediatric trauma center consultation. We will evaluate parent/family experience of care and distress using previously validated instruments, healthcare utilization by family recollection and medical record abstraction, and out-of-pocket costs using standard economic analyses.

DISCUSSION

We expect that the findings from this study will inform other level I pediatric trauma centers and non-pediatric trauma centers on how to improve their systems of care for injured children. The results will help to optimize communication, confidence, and shared decision-making between parents/families and clinical staff from both the transferring and receiving hospitals.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04469036. Registered July 13, 2020 before start of inclusion.

Enhancing the Implementation of the Virtual Pediatric Trauma Center Using Practical, Robust, Implementation and Sustainability Model: A Mixed-Methods Study

BACKGROUND

This article describes factors related to adoption, implementation, and effectiveness of the Virtual Pediatric Trauma Center intervention, which uses telehealth for trauma specialist consultations for seriously injured children. We aimed at (1) measuring RE-AIM (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance) implementation outcomes and (2) identifying PRISM (Practical, Robust, Implementation, and Sustainability Model) contextual factors that influenced the implementation outcomes.

METHODS

This interim implementation evaluation of our telehealth trial used a convergent mixed-methods design. The quantitative component was a cross-sectional analysis of pediatric trauma encounters using electronic health records. The qualitative component was a thematic analysis of written and verbal feedback from providers and family advisory board meetings. We compared the quantitative and qualitative data by synthesizing them in a joint display table, organized by RE-AIM dimensions. We categorized these key findings into the PRISM domains.

RESULTS

During the first 10 months of this trial, 246 subjects were randomized, with 177 assigned to standard care and 69 assigned to telehealth. Four referring sites transitioned from standard care into their intervention period. PRISM contextual factors that influenced RE-AIM implementation outcomes included the following findings: Providers struggle to remember, interpret, and navigate intervention workflows; providers have preconceived ideas about the intervention purpose; the intervention mitigates parents' anxieties about the transfer process.

DISCUSSION

This study revealed implementation challenges that influence the overall success of this telehealth trial. Early identification of these challenges allows our team the opportunity to address them now to optimize the intervention reach, adoption, and implementation. This early action will ultimately enhance the success of our trial and the ability of our intervention to achieve broad impact.

Parent and Physician Qualitative Perspectives on Reasons for Pediatric Hospital Readmissions

OBJECTIVES

One in 5 parents report a problem in their child's hospital-to-home transition, leading to adverse events, dissatisfaction, and readmissions. Although researchers in several studies have explored parent insights into discharge needs, few have explored perceptions of causes for pediatric readmissions. We sought to investigate factors contributing to pediatric readmissions, from both parent and physician perspectives.

METHODS

We conducted a qualitative study using semistructured interviews with parents, discharging and readmitting physicians, and subspecialist consultants of children readmitted within 30 days of initial discharge from the pediatric ward at an urban nonfreestanding children's hospital. Participants were interviewed during the readmission and asked about care transition experiences during the initial admission and potential causes and preventability of readmission. Data were analyzed iteratively by using a constant-comparative approach. We identified major themes, solicited feedback, and inferred relationships between themes to develop a conceptual model for preventing readmissions.

RESULTS

We conducted 53 interviews from 20 patient readmissions, including 20 parents, 20 readmitting physicians, 11 discharging physicians, and 3 consulting subspecialists. Major themes included the following: (1) unclear roles cause lack of ownership in patient care tasks, (2) lack of collaborative communication leads to discordant understanding of care plans, and (3) incomplete hospital-to-home transitions result in ongoing reliance on the hospital.

CONCLUSIONS

Clear definition of team member roles, improved communication among care team members and between care teams and families, and enhanced care coordination to facilitate the hospital-to-home transition were perceived as potential interventions that may help prevent readmissions.

OFCD syndrome and extraembryonic defects are revealed by conditional mutation of the Polycomb-group repressive complex 1.1 (PRC1.1) gene BCOR

BCOR is a critical regulator of human development. Heterozygous mutations of BCOR in females cause the X-linked developmental disorder Oculofaciocardiodental syndrome (OFCD), and hemizygous mutations of BCOR in males cause gestational lethality. BCOR associates with Polycomb group proteins to form one subfamily of the diverse Polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1) complexes, designated PRC1.1. Currently there is limited understanding of differing developmental roles of the various PRC1 complexes. We therefore generated a conditional exon 9-10 knockout Bcor allele and a transgenic conditional Bcor expression allele and used these to define multiple roles of Bcor, and by implication PRC1.1, in mouse development. Females heterozygous for Bcor exhibiting mosaic expression due to the X-linkage of the gene showed reduced postnatal viability and had OFCD-like defects. By contrast, Bcor hemizygosity in the entire male embryo resulted in embryonic lethality by E9.5. We further dissected the roles of Bcor, focusing on some of the tissues affected in OFCD through use of cell type specific Cre alleles. Mutation of Bcor in neural crest cells caused cleft palate, shortening of the mandible and tympanic bone, ectopic salivary glands and abnormal tongue musculature. We found that defects in the mandibular region, rather than in the palate itself, led to palatal clefting. Mutation of Bcor in hindlimb progenitor cells of the lateral mesoderm resulted in 2/3 syndactyly. Mutation of Bcor in Isl1-expressing lineages that contribute to the heart caused defects including persistent truncus arteriosus, ventricular septal defect and fetal lethality. Mutation of Bcor in extraembryonic lineages resulted in placental defects and midgestation lethality. Ubiquitous over expression of transgenic Bcor isoform A during development resulted in embryonic defects and midgestation lethality. The defects we have found in Bcor mutants provide insights into the etiology of the OFCD syndrome and how BCOR-containing PRC1 complexes function in development.

Testing Pediatric Emergency Telemedicine Implementation Strategies Using Quality Improvement Methods

Background: Despite the recognized benefits of telemedicine use for pediatric emergency consultations, there are barriers to the widespread uptake of this technology. Quality improvement methods can be used to rapidly test implementation strategies. Our objective was to test telemedicine implementation strategies in real-world application using quality improvement methods. Our quality improvement aim was to achieve high rates of telemedicine use for pediatric transfer consultations. Methods: A multidisciplinary multisite improvement team identified that key drivers of increasing telemedicine use included telemedicine resource awareness, streamlined telemedicine workflow, provider buy-in, and data transparency. Interventions focused on telemedicine trainings, disseminating telemedicine uptake data, telemedicine reminders, telemedicine test calls, and preparing for telemedicine use for every transfer consultation. The outcome measure was percentage of pediatric emergency transfer consultations that used telemedicine. The balancing measure was time (minutes) from the initial transfer center call to completion of the consultation. Results: Multiple plan-do-study-act cycles were associated with special cause variation, with an upward shift in mean percentage of telemedicine use from 5% to 22%. Time from initial call to consultation completion remained unchanged. Conclusion: Our study supports the use of quality improvement methods to test telemedicine implementation strategies for pediatric telemedicine emergency consultations.

Developing an Interfacility Transfer Handoff Intervention: Applying the Person-Based Approach Method

OBJECTIVE

To develop an interfacility transfer handoff intervention by applying the person-based approach method.

METHODS

We conducted a qualitative study that used nominal group technique (NGT) and focus groups to apply the person-based approach for intervention development. NGT methods were used to determine prioritized pediatric transfer handoff elements to design the initial intervention prototype. Five focus group sessions were then held to solicit feedback on the intervention, perceptions on implementing the intervention, and outcomes for evaluating the intervention. Data were analyzed by using content analysis. Iterative improvements were made to the intervention prototype as data emerged.

RESULTS

Forty-two clinical providers in total participated in NGT and focus group sessions, including physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, and a respiratory therapist. The initial intervention prototype was a handoff mnemonic tool, "SHARING" (short introduction, how the patient appeared, action taken, responses and results, interpretation, next steps, gather documents). Perceived benefits of the intervention included clarifying handoff expectations, reducing handoff deficits, supporting less experienced clinical providers, and setting the stage for ongoing effective communication. Outcomes perceived to be meaningful were related to triage appropriateness, workflow and use, and communication and information sharing. The final version of the intervention consisted of a SHARING reference card and a SHARING electronic medical record note template.

CONCLUSIONS

Using qualitative methods to apply the person-based approach to intervention development, we developed a transfer handoff intervention. Future research is needed to examine impacts of this tool; outcomes can include those identified as meaningful by participants in our present study.

An Iterative Quality Improvement Process Improves Pediatric Ward Discharge Efficiency

OBJECTIVES

Discharge of hospitalized pediatric patients may be delayed for various "nonmedical" reasons. Such delays impact hospital flow and contribute to hospital crowding. We aimed to improve discharge efficiency for our hospitalized pediatric patients by using an iterative quality improvement (QI) process.

METHODS

Opportunities for improved efficiency were identified using value stream mapping, root cause, and benefit-effort analyses. QI interventions were focused on altered physician workflow, standardized discharge checklists, and physician workshops by using multiple plan-do-study-act cycles. The primary outcome of percentage of discharges before noon, process measure of percentage of discharges with orders before 10 am, and balancing measures of readmission rate, emergency department revisit rate, and parent experience survey scores were analyzed by using statistical process control. The secondary outcome of mean length of stay was analyzed using t tests and linear regression.

RESULTS

Implementation of our interventions was associated with special cause variation, with an upward shift in mean percentage of discharges before noon from 13.2% to 18.5%. Mean percentage of patients with discharge orders before 10 am also increased from 13.6% to 23.6% and met rules for special cause. No change was detected in a control group. Adjusted mean length of stay index, 30-day readmissions, and parent experience survey scores remained unchanged. Special cause variation indicated a decreased 48-hour emergency department revisit rate associated with our interventions.

CONCLUSIONS

An iterative QI process improved discharge efficiency without negatively affecting subsequent hospital use or parent experience. With this study, we support investment of resources into improving pediatric discharge efficiency through value stream mapping and rapid cycle QI.

Acceptability, Usability, and Effectiveness: A Qualitative Study Evaluating a Pediatric Telemedicine Program

BACKGROUND

Pediatric emergency telemedicine consultations have been shown to provide support to community emergency departments treating critically ill pediatric patients. However, despite the recognized value of telemedicine, adoption has been slow. To determine why clinicians frequently do not use telemedicine when it is available for pediatric patients, as well as to learn how to improve telemedicine programs, we conducted a qualitative study using stakeholder interviews.

METHODS

We conducted a qualitative study using grounded theory methodology, with in-depth interviews of referring and accepting physicians and referring, transport, and transfer center nurses. We analyzed data iteratively and adapted the interview guide based on early interviews. We solicited feedback from the participants on the conceptual model.

RESULTS

Sixteen interviews were conducted; all respondents had been involved in a telemedicine consultation at least five times, with some having used telemedicine more than 30 times. Analysis resulted in three themes: 1) recognizing and addressing telemedicine biases are central to gaining buy-in; 2) as technology advances, telemedicine processes need to adapt accordingly; and 3) telemedicine increases collaboration among health care providers and patients/families in the patient care process.

CONCLUSIONS

To improve patient care through increased use of telemedicine for pediatric emergency consultations, processes need to be modified to address provider biases and end-user concerns. Processes should be adapted to allow users to utilize a variety of technologies (including smartphones) and to enable more users, such as nurses, to participate. Finally, telemedicine can be used to improve the patient and family experience by including them in consultations.

Developing and Validating a Pediatric Potentially Avoidable Transfer Quality Metric

This study aimed to evaluate a quality metric that identifies pediatric potentially avoidable transfers from diagnosis and procedure codes. Using physician medical record review as the gold standard, the following steps were used: (1) develop the initial metric definition, (2) estimate initial metric definition operating characteristics, (3) refine this definition to optimize the c-statistic, and (4) validate this optimized metric definition using a separate sample. The initial metric using Sample A patient transfers had a c-statistic of 0.63 (95% confidence interval = 0.53-0.73). Following 22 revisions, the optimized metric definition was a transfer discharged within 24 hours that did not receive any of a select list of 60 268 specialized diagnoses or procedures. The optimized metric on Sample B demonstrated a sensitivity of 80.6%, specificity of 85.7%, and c-statistic of 0.83 (95% confidence interval = 0.75-0.91). The quality metric developed and validated in this study demonstrated satisfactory operating characteristics, providing a feasible means to measure this important outcome.

Completeness of Written Discharge Guidance for English- and Spanish-Speaking Patient Families

OBJECTIVES

Written discharge guidance for hospitalized pediatric patients should include language-appropriate key elements to ensure positive discharge outcomes. Our objective in this study was to determine the completeness of written pediatric discharge guidance and to test the hypothesis that Spanish-speaking families with limited English proficiency (LEP) receive less complete written discharge guidance than English-speaking families.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective review of written discharge guidance provided to 100 English- and 100 Spanish-speaking families at an urban nonfreestanding children's hospital to assess the inclusion of key elements: follow-up plan, contingency plan, telephone contact, discharge medications, discharge diagnosis, and hospital course. We compared the completeness of discharge guidance (number of elements provided among number of applicable elements) between English- versus Spanish-speaking families.

RESULTS

When evaluating discharge guidance for the presence of key elements in any language, there was no significant difference between English- and Spanish-speaking families. However, the mean completeness of language-appropriate discharge guidance for English- and Spanish-speaking families was 87.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] 84.4%-91.1%) and 16.0% (95% CI 11.5%-20.4%), respectively. The ordinal logistic regression examining the association between the number of key element deficits and English- (reference group) versus Spanish-speaking families demonstrated an adjusted odds ratio of 339.8 (95% CI 112.4-1027.5).

CONCLUSIONS

Few Spanish-speaking families with LEP receive written discharge guidance in their preferred language. Complete, language-appropriate discharge guidance was identified as an area for improvement efforts to work toward improving care provided to families with LEP.

You Don't Know What You Don't Know: Using Nominal Group Technique to Identify and Prioritize Education Topics for Regional Hospitals

BACKGROUND

Our 121-bed children's hospital is a quaternary care referral center for a 33-county region. Referring hospitals asked for Pediatric Acute Care Education Sessions (PACES). To determine which topics to prioritize for these sessions, nominal group technique (NGT) methods were used to obtain stakeholder-prioritized consensus on education topics.

METHODS

Five NGT sessions were conducted over 6 weeks at referring hospitals throughout central and northern California. Each session lasted ∼90 minutes and engaged a diverse multidisciplinary group of stakeholders. At these sessions, stakeholders answered the question "What are your top 5 clinical topics that should be prioritized by PACES?" NGT numeric ranking methods were used to determine prioritized topics. A thematic analysis was performed on the session transcripts.

RESULTS

The 5 sessions had 43 total participants, including nurses, respiratory therapists, physicians, and administrators. The top 4 prioritized topics were sepsis, diabetic ketoacidosis, respiratory failure or support, and bronchiolitis and/or respiratory syncytial virus. Unique education needs for each hospital were also uncovered in the NGT discussion. Three qualitative themes emerged from the discussion: diverse educational needs, the need for guidelines on telemedicine and transfer, and relationship building.

CONCLUSIONS

The use of NGT to engage multisite, multidisciplinary stakeholders helped to inform an education program. The use of NGT methods provided rich information that would not have been obtained through surveys alone and helped facilitate relationship building. The PACES group was able to identify and prioritize education topics of interest to referring community hospitals.

Hospital-to-Home Interventions, Use, and Satisfaction: A Meta-analysis

CONTEXT

Hospital-to-home transitions are critical opportunities to promote patient safety and high-quality care. However, such transitions are often fraught with difficulties associated with increased health care use and poor patient satisfaction.

OBJECTIVE

In this review, we determine which pediatric hospital discharge interventions affect subsequent health care use or parental satisfaction compared with usual care.

DATA SOURCES

We searched 7 bibliographic databases and 5 pediatric journals.

STUDY SELECTION

Inclusion criteria were: (1) available in English, (2) focused on children <18 years of age, (3) pediatric data reported separately from adult data, (4) not focused on normal newborns or pregnancy, (5) discharge intervention implemented in the inpatient setting, and (6) outcomes of health care use or caregiver satisfaction. Reviews, case studies, and commentaries were excluded.

DATA EXTRACTION

Two reviewers independently abstracted data using modified Cochrane data collection forms and assessed quality using modified Downs and Black checklists.

RESULTS

Seventy one articles met inclusion criteria. Although most interventions improved satisfaction, interventions variably reduced use. Interventions focused on follow-up care, discharge planning, teach back-based parental education, and contingency planning were associated with reduced use across patient groups. Bundled care coordination and family engagement interventions were associated with lower use in patients with chronic illnesses and neonates.

LIMITATIONS

Variability limited findings and reduced generalizability.

CONCLUSIONS

In this review, we highlight the utility of a pediatric discharge bundle in reducing health care use. Coordinating follow-up, discharge planning, teach back-based parental education, and contingency planning are potential foci for future efforts to improve hospital-to-home transitions.

EZH2 and BCL6 Cooperate to Assemble CBX8-BCOR Complex to Repress Bivalent Promoters, Mediate Germinal Center Formation and Lymphomagenesis

The EZH2 histone methyltransferase mediates the humoral immune response and drives lymphomagenesis through formation of bivalent chromatin domains at critical germinal center (GC) B cell promoters. Herein we show that the actions of EZH2 in driving GC formation and lymphoma precursor lesions require site-specific binding by the BCL6 transcriptional repressor and the presence of a non-canonical PRC1-BCOR-CBX8 complex. The chromodomain protein CBX8 is induced in GC B cells, binds to H3K27me3 at bivalent promoters, and is required for stable association of the complex and the resulting histone modifications. Moreover, oncogenic BCL6 and EZH2 cooperate to accelerate diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) development and combinatorial targeting of these repressors results in enhanced anti-lymphoma activity in DLBCLs.