scholarly journals EXPOSURE OF PEDIATRIC EMERGENCY PATIENTS TO IMAGING EXAMS, NOWADAYS AND IN TIMES OF COVID-19: AN INTEGRATIVE REVIEW

2022 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabela Dombeck Floriani ◽  
Ariela Victoria Borgmann ◽  
Marina Rachid Barreto ◽  
Elaine Rossi Ribeiro
Keyword(s):  
Diagnostic Imaging ◽  
Pediatric Population ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Hospital Staff ◽  
Pediatric Emergency ◽  
Medical Overuse ◽  
Emergency Patients ◽  
Improve Hospital ◽  
Hospital Expenses

ABSTRACT Objective: To analyze literature data about unnecessary exposure of pediatric emergency patients to ionizing agents from imaging examinations, nowadays and during times of COVID-19. Data sources: Between April and July 2020, articles were selected using the databases: Virtual Health Library, PubMed and Scientific Electronic Library Online. The following descriptors were used: [(pediatrics) AND (emergencies) AND (diagnostic imaging) AND (medical overuse)] and [(Coronavirus infections) OR (COVID-19) AND (pediatrics) AND (emergencies) AND (diagnostic imaging)]. Inclusion criteria were articles available in full, in Portuguese or English, published from 2016 to 2020 or from 2019 to 2020, and articles that covered the theme. Articles without adherence to the theme and duplicate texts in the databases were excluded. Data synthesis: 61 publications were identified, of which 17 were comprised in this review. Some imaging tests used in pediatric emergency departments increase the possibility of developing future malignancies in patients, since they emit ionizing radiation. There are clinical decision instruments that allow reducing unnecessary exam requests, avoiding over-medicalization, and hospital expenses. Moreover, with the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a growing concern about the overuse of imaging exams in the pediatric population, which highlights the problems pointed out by this review. Conclusions: It is necessary to improve hospital staff training, use clinical decision instruments and develop guidelines to reduce the number of exams required, allowing hospital cost savings; and reducing children’s exposure to ionizing agents.

scholarly journals PEMCRC anaphylaxis study protocol: a multicentre cohort study to derive and validate clinical decision models for the emergency department management of children with anaphylaxis

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. e037341
Author(s):  
Timothy E Dribin ◽  
Kenneth A Michelson ◽  
David Vyles ◽  
Mark I Neuman ◽  
David C Brousseau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Emergency Department ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Prediction Models ◽  
Recursive Partitioning ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Pediatric Emergency ◽  
Initial Reaction ◽  
Research Committee ◽  
Reaction Severity

IntroductionThere remain significant knowledge gaps about the management and outcomes of children with anaphylaxis. These gaps have led to practice variation regarding decisions to hospitalise children and length of observation periods following treatment with epinephrine. The objectives of this multicentre study are to (1) determine the prevalence of and risk factors for severe, persistent, refractory and biphasic anaphylaxis, as well as persistent and biphasic non-anaphylactic reactions; (2) derive and validate prediction models for emergency department (ED) discharge; and (3) determine data-driven lengths of ED and inpatient observation prior to discharge to home based on initial reaction severity.Methods and analysisThe study is being conducted through the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Collaborative Research Committee (PEMCRC). Children 6 months to less than 18 years of age presenting to 30 participating EDs for anaphylaxis from October 2015 to December 2019 will be eligible. The primary outcomes for each objective are (1) severe, persistent, refractory or biphasic anaphylaxis, as well as persistent or biphasic non-anaphylactic reactions; (2) safe ED discharge, defined as no receipt of acute anaphylaxis medications or hypotension beyond 4 hours from first administered dose of epinephrine; and (3) time from first to last administered dose of epinephrine and vasopressor cessation. Analyses for each objective include (1) descriptive statistics to estimate prevalence and generalised estimating equations that will be used to investigate risk factors for anaphylaxis outcomes, (2) least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression and binary recursive partitioning to derive and validate prediction models of children who may be candidates for safe ED discharge, and (3) Kaplan-Meier analyses to assess timing from first to last epinephrine doses and vasopressor cessation based on initial reaction severity.Ethics and disseminationAll sites will obtain institutional review board approval; results will be published in peer-reviewed journals and disseminated via traditional and social media, blogs and online education platforms.

DESIGN OF DECOUPLED CLINICAL DECISION SUPPORT FOR SERVICE-ORIENTED ARCHITECTURES

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (02) ◽  
pp. 159-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
JENS WEBER-JAHNKE
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Clinical Decision Support ◽  
Service Oriented Architecture ◽  
Empirical Evaluation ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Service Oriented Architectures ◽  
Distributed Services ◽  
Service Oriented ◽  
Computer Based

Computer-based clinical decision support (CDS) contributes to cost savings, increased patient safety and quality of medical care. Most existing CDS systems are stand-alone products (first generation) or part of complete electronic medical record packages (second generation). Experience shows that creating and maintaining CDS systems is expensive and requires effort that should be economized by sharing them among multiple users. It makes good economic sense to share CDS service installations among a larger set of client systems. The paradigm of a service-oriented architecture (SOA) embraces this idea of sharing distributed services. Some attempts making CDS services available to distributed health information systems exist. However, these approaches have not gained much adoption. We argue that they do not provide a sufficient level of decoupling between client and CDS in order to be broadly reusable in SOAs. In this paper, we present a new CDS service component called EGADSS, which has been designed and implemented with the declared objective to minimize the coupling between client and CDS server. We present our key design decisions, which are guided by empirical research in SOA development. We evaluate our result theoretically by measuring the level of decoupling achieved compared to existing CDS approaches. Furthermore, we report on an empirical evaluation of the resulting design, integrating the EGADSS service with an example client system.

scholarly journals Using cervical spine clearance guidelines in a pediatric population: a survey of physician practices and opinions

CJEM ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (01) ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma C. Burns ◽  
Natalie L. Yanchar
Keyword(s):  
Cervical Spine ◽  
Design Method ◽  
Pediatric Population ◽  
Trauma Team ◽  
Pediatric Emergency ◽  
Team Leaders ◽  
Physician Practices ◽  
Clinical Criteria ◽  
Radiologic Imaging ◽  
National Emergency

ABSTRACT Background: Unlike in adults, there are currently no standardized, validated guidelines to aid practitioners in clearing the pediatric cervical spine (C-spine). Many pediatric centres in Canada have locally produced, adult-modified guidelines, but the extent to which these or other guidelines are used is unknown. Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine if Canadian physicians are using either locally produced or adult C-spine guidelines to clear the C- spines of patients < 16 years of age. The study also characterized the common methods used by physicians to clear pediatric C-spine injuries in terms of clinical examination and radiologic imaging. Methods: A 20-question survey was distributed to 240 Canadian pediatric emergency physicians and trauma team leaders using the Dillman Total Design Method. Results: The response rate was 68%. The results showed that 61% of physicians currently use guidelines to assist in the clearance of pediatric C-spines. Of those physicians not using guidelines, 85% stated that they would use them if they were available. The clinical criteria most often used to clear pediatric C-spines were a normal neurologic examination (97%) and the absence of C-spine tenderness (95%), intoxication (94%), and distracting injuries (87%). Conclusions: Guidelines are commonly used by Canadian physicians when clearing the pediatric C-spine, yet few are validated in children. Those most commonly used are locally developed guidelines, the Canadian C-spine guidelines, or National Emergency X-Radiography Utilization Study (NEXUS) low-risk criteria.

scholarly journals Cost of coils for intracranial aneurysms: clinical decision analysis for implementation of a capitation model

2018 ◽  
Vol 128 (6) ◽  
pp. 1792-1798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gurpreet S. Gandhoke ◽  
Yash K. Pandya ◽  
Ashutosh P. Jadhav ◽  
Tudor Jovin ◽  
Robert M. Friedlander ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sensitivity Analysis ◽  
Probabilistic Sensitivity Analysis ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
List Price ◽  
Maximum Dimension ◽  
Total Length ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Mean Cost

OBJECTIVEThe price of coils used for intracranial aneurysm embolization has continued to rise despite an increase in competition in the marketplace. Coils on the US market range in list price from $500 to $3000. The purpose of this study was to investigate potential cost savings with the use of a price capitation model.METHODSThe authors built a clinical decision analytical tree and compared their institution’s current expenditure on endovascular coils to the costs if a capped-price model were implemented. They retrospectively reviewed coil and cost data for 148 patients who underwent coil embolization from January 2015 through September 2016. Data on the length and number of coils used in all patients were collected and analyzed. The probabilities of a treated aneurysm being ≤/> 10 mm in maximum dimension, the total number of coils used for a case being ≤/> 5, and the total length of coils used for a case being ≤/> 50 cm were calculated, as was the mean cost of the currently used coils for all possible combinations of events with these probabilities. Using the same probabilities, the authors calculated the expected value of the capped-price strategy in comparison with the current one. They also conducted multiple 1-way sensitivity analyses by applying plausible ranges to the probabilities and cost variables. The robustness of the results was confirmed by applying individual distributions to all studied variables and conducting probabilistic sensitivity analysis.RESULTSNinety-five (64%) of 148 patients presented with a rupture, and 53 (36%) were treated on an elective basis. The mean aneurysm size was 6.7 mm. A total of 1061 coils were used from a total of 4 different providers. Companies A (72%) and B (16%) accounted for the major share of coil consumption. The mean number of coils per case was 7.3. The mean cost per case (for all coils) was $10,434. The median total length of coils used, for all coils, was 42 cm. The calculated probability of treating an aneurysm less than 10 mm in maximum dimension was 0.83, for using 5 coils or fewer per case it was 0.42, and for coil length of 50 cm or less it was 0.89. The expected cost per case with the capped policy was calculated to be $4000, a cost savings of $6564 in comparison with using the price of Company A. Multiple 1-way sensitivity analyses revealed that the capped policy was cost saving if its cost was less than $10,500. In probabilistic sensitivity analyses, the lowest cost difference between current and capped policies was $2750.CONCLUSIONSIn comparison with the cost of coils from the authors’ current provider, their decision model and probabilistic sensitivity analysis predicted a minimum $407,000 to a maximum $1,799,976 cost savings in 148 cases by adapting the capped-price policy for coils.

scholarly journals Short‐term outcomes in children following emergency department visits for minor injuries sustained at home

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J Molloy ◽  
Wendy Shields ◽  
Molly W Stevens ◽  
Andrea C Gielen
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Pediatric Population ◽  
Pediatric Emergency ◽  
Emergency Department Visits ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Minor Injury ◽  
Minor Injuries ◽  
A Minor ◽  
The Impact ◽  
At Home

Abstract Background Minor injuries are very common in the pediatric population and often occur in the home environment. Despite its prevalence, little is known about outcomes in children following minor injury at home. Understanding the impact of these injuries on children and their families is important for treatment, prevention, and policy. The objectives of our study were (1) To describe the distribution of short-term outcomes following pediatric minor injuries sustained at home and (2) To explore the relationship of injury type and patient and household demographics with these outcomes. Methods Children (n = 102) aged 0–7 years with a minor injury sustained at home were recruited in an urban pediatric emergency department as part of the Child Housing Assessment for a Safer Environment (CHASE) observational study. Each patient had a home visit following the emergency department visit, where five parent-reported outcomes were assessed. Relationships were explored with logistic regression. Results The most common type of injury was soft tissue (57.8 %). 13.2 % of children experienced ≥ 7 days of pain, 21.6 % experienced ≥ 7 days of abnormal activity, 8.9 % missed ≥ 5 days of school, 17.8 % of families experienced ≥ 7 days of disruption, and 9.1 % of parents missed ≥ 5 days of work. Families reported a total of 120 missed school days and 120 missed work days. Children who sustained a burn had higher odds of experiencing pain (OR 6.97), abnormal activity (OR 8.01), and missing school (OR 8.71). The parents of children who sustained a burn had higher odds of missing work (OR 14.97). Conclusions Families of children suffering a minor injury at home reported prolonged pain and changes in activity as well as significant school and work loss. In this cohort, burns were more likely than other minor injuries to have these negative short-term outcomes reported and represent an important target for interventions. The impact of these injuries on missed school and disruption of parental work warrants further consideration.

Ivy sign: a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for pediatric moyamoya

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Keyword(s):  
Blood Flow ◽  
Cerebral Artery ◽  
Pediatric Patients ◽  
Clinical Decision Making ◽  
Prognostic Biomarker ◽  
Pediatric Population ◽  
Radiographic Finding ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Stage Iii ◽  
Postoperative Stroke

OBJECTIVE Ivy sign is a radiographic finding on FLAIR MRI sequences and is associated with slow cortical blood flow in moyamoya. Limited data exist on the utility of the ivy sign as a diagnostic and prognostic tool in pediatric patients, particularly outside of Asian populations. The authors aimed to investigate a modified grading scale with which to characterize the prevalence and extent of the ivy sign in children with moyamoya and evaluate its efficacy as a biomarker in predicting postoperative outcomes, including stroke risk. METHODS Pre- and postoperative clinical and radiographic data of all pediatric patients (21 years of age or younger) who underwent surgery for moyamoya disease or moyamoya syndrome at two major tertiary referral centers in the US and Israel, between July 2009 and August 2019, were retrospectively reviewed. Ivy sign scores were correlated to Suzuki stage, Matsushima grade, and postoperative stroke rate to quantify the diagnostic and prognostic utility of ivy sign. RESULTS A total of 171 hemispheres in 107 patients were included. The median age at the time of surgery was 9 years (range 3 months–21 years). The ivy sign was most frequently encountered in association with Suzuki stage III or IV disease in all vascular territories, including the anterior cerebral artery (53.7%), middle cerebral artery (56.3%), and posterior cerebral artery (47.5%) territories. Following surgical revascularization, 85% of hemispheres with Matsushima grade A demonstrated a concomitant, statistically significant reduction in ivy sign scores (OR 5.3, 95% CI 1.4–20.0; p = 0.013). Postoperatively, revascularized hemispheres that exhibited ivy sign score decreases had significantly lower rates of postoperative stroke (3.4%) compared with hemispheres that demonstrated no reversal of the ivy sign (16.1%) (OR 5.5, 95% CI 1.5–21.0; p = 0.008). CONCLUSIONS This is the largest study to date that focuses on the role of the ivy sign in pediatric moyamoya. These data demonstrate that the ivy sign was present in approximately half the pediatric patients with moyamoya with Suzuki stage III or IV disease, when blood flow was most unstable. The authors found that reversal of the ivy sign provided both radiographic and clinical utility as a prognostic biomarker postoperatively, given the statistically significant association with both better Matsushima grades and a fivefold reduction in postoperative stroke rates. These findings can help inform clinical decision-making, and they have particular value in the pediatric population, as the ability to minimize additional radiographic evaluations and tailor radiographic surveillance is requisite.

scholarly journals Understanding the Heterogeneity of Labor and Delivery Units: Using Design Thinking Methodology to Assess Environmental Factors that Contribute to Safety in Childbirth

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (06) ◽  
pp. 638-646
Author(s):  
Jules P. Sherman ◽  
Laura C. Hedli ◽  
Alexandria I. Kristensen-Cabrera ◽  
Steven S. Lipman ◽  
Doug Schwandt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Design Thinking ◽  
Neonatal Resuscitation ◽  
Care Facility ◽  
Health Care Facility ◽  
Hospital Staff ◽  
Labor And Delivery ◽  
Building Projects ◽  
Hospital Systems ◽  
Improve Hospital

Abstract Objective There is limited research exploring the relationship between design and patient safety outcomes, especially in maternal and neonatal care. We employed design thinking methodology to understand how the design of labor and delivery units impacts safety and identified spaces and systems where improvements are needed. Study Design Site visits were conducted at 10 labor and delivery units in California. A multidisciplinary team collected data through observations, measurements, and clinician interviews. In parallel, research was conducted regarding current standards and codes for building new hospitals. Results Designs of labor and delivery units are heterogeneous, lacking in consistency regarding environmental factors that may impact safety and outcomes. Building codes do not take into consideration workflow, human factors, and patient and clinician experience. Attitude of hospital staff may contribute to improving safety through design. Three areas in need of improvement and actionable through design emerged: (1) blood availability for hemorrhage management, (2) appropriate space for neonatal resuscitation, and (3) restocking and organization methods of equipment and supplies. Conclusion Design thinking could be implemented at various stages of health care facility building projects and during retrofits of existing units. Through this approach, we may be able to improve hospital systems and environmental factors.

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