A Role for Health Systems in Addressing Chronic Absenteeism.

This Viewpoint highlights opportunities for US pediatric health systems to address chronic absenteeism using school attendance data and collaborations between school and health systems.

Sources of Contraception Among Adolescents and Young Adults.

This cross-sectional study describes the nationwide pattern of contraception access by sociodemographic characteristics and health care settings among US youth aged 15 to 24 years.

Contraceptive counseling for adolescents in the emergency department: A novel curriculum for nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

ABSTRACT: Many adolescents use the emergency department (ED) as their primary source of health care. As a result, the ED serves as a unique opportunity to reach adolescents. Although many adolescent visits to the ED are related to reproductive health, ED providers report barriers to providing this care, including lack of training. Nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) serve a vital role in the provision of consistent care to adolescents in the ED. The purpose of this study was to create a curriculum to train NPs and PAs at two pediatric institutions to provide patient-centered contraceptive counseling to adolescents in the pediatric ED regardless of their chief complaint. To do this, we created a four-part webinar followed by an in-person training session. Participants completed training and then conducted counseling sessions with adolescents in the ED. Counseling sessions were recorded and reviewed for fidelity to delineated counseling principles, and data from post-counseling surveys were collected. 27 NPs and PAs completed the training and conducted 99 counseling sessions. Nearly all sessions incorporated essential content and communication principles such as shared decision making (90%) and teach-back methods (75%). All NPs and PAs who participated reported satisfaction and subjective improvement in knowledge and competence from the training. This curriculum offers a novel and feasible approach to train NPs and PAs to deliver patient-centered contraception counseling to adolescents in the ED setting, and it can serve as a model for how to educate different providers to incorporate reproductive health education into the busy ED visit.

Validating Use of ICD-10 Diagnosis Codes in Identifying Physical Abuse Among Young Children.

OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the positive predictive value of International Classification of Disease, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) codes in identifying young children diagnosed with physical abuse. METHODS: We extracted 230 charts of children <24 months of age who had any emergency department, inpatient, or ambulatory care encounters between Oct 1, 2015 and Sept 30, 2020 coded using ICD-10-CM codes suggestive of physical abuse. Electronic health records were reviewed to determine if physical abuse was considered during the medical encounter and assess the level of diagnostic certainty for physical abuse. Positive predictive value of each ICD-10-CM code was assessed. RESULTS: Of 230 charts with ICD-10 codes concerning for physical abuse, 209 (91%) had documentation that a diagnosis of physical abuse was considered during an encounter. The majority of cases, 138 (60%), were rated as definitely or likely abuse, 36 cases (16%) were indeterminate, and 35 (15%) were likely or definitely accidental injury. Other forms of suspected maltreatment were discussed in 16 (7%) charts and 5 (2%) had no documented concerns for child maltreatment. The positive predictive values of the specific ICD-10 codes for encounters rated as definitely or likely abuse varied considerably, ranging from 0.89 (0.80-0.99) for T74.12 "Adult and child abuse, neglect, and other maltreatment, confirmed" to 0.24 (95% CI: 0.06-0.42) for Z04.72 "Encounter for examination and observation following alleged child physical abuse." CONCLUSIONS: ICD-10-CM codes identify young children who experience physical abuse, but certain codes have a higher positive predictive value than others.

Depressive Symptoms Among Urban Adolescents with Asthma: A Focus for Providers.

OBJECTIVES: Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood in the United States, disproportionately affecting urban, poor, and minority children. Adolescents are at high risk for poor asthma outcomes and for depressive symptoms. The purpose of this study is to investigate associations between depressive symptoms and asthma-related clinical and functional outcomes among urban teens. METHODS: We used baseline data from a 3-arm randomized trial, School-Based Asthma Care for Teens, in Rochester, NY. We used the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale with a standard cutoff score of 16 to identify subjects at risk for clinical depression. We used structured in-home surveys and validated scales to assess clinical and functional outcomes and conducted bivariate and multivariate analyses to evaluate differences between groups. RESULTS: We identified 277 eligible teens (ages 12 to 16, 80% participation, 54% black, 34% Hispanic, 45% female, 84% on Medicaid). Overall, 28% reported depressive symptoms. Teens with depressive symptoms experienced greater asthma symptom severity and more acute health care utilization for asthma (all P < .001); however, there was no difference in preventive care use between groups. Teens with depressive symptoms also reported lower asthma-related quality of life (P < .001), less sleep (P < .001), and more limitation in mild (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.60; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.34-5.02) and moderate (aOR, 2.56; 95% CI, 1.41-4.61) activity and in gym (aOR, 2.33; 95% CI, 1.30-4.17). CONCLUSIONS: Depressive symptoms are prevalent among urban teens with asthma and are associated with worse asthma-related clinical outcomes, functional limitation, and quality of life. Providers should consider depression as a significant comorbidity that may impact multiple aspects of daily life for this population.