Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Transport and Palliative Care: A Case Series.

OBJECTIVE: To present our center's experience with terminal extubation in 3 palliative critical care home transports from the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Unit. DESIGN: All cases were identified from our Cardiovascular intensive care unit ( CVICU). Patients were terminally ill children with no other surgical or medical option who were transported home between 2014 and 2018, for terminal extubation and end-of-life care according to their families' wishes. INTERVENTIONS: The patients were 7, 9 months, and 19 years; and they had very complex and chronic conditions. The families were approached by the CVICU staff during multidisciplinary meetings, where goals of care were established. Parental expectations were clarified, and palliative care team was involved, as well as home hospice was arranged pre transfer. The transfer process was discussed and all the needs were established. All patients had unstable medical conditions, with needs for transport for withdrawal of life support and death at home. Each case needed a highly trained team to support life while in transport. The need of these patients required coordination with home palliative care services, as well as community resources due to difficulty to get in their homes. CONCLUSIONS: Transportation of pediatric cardiac critical care patients for terminal extubation at home is a relatively infrequent practice. It is a feasible alternative for families seeking out of the hospital end-of-life care for their critically ill and technology dependent children. Our single-center experience supports the need for development of formal programs for end-of-life critical care transports.

A novel paradigm for providing improved care to chronic patients in cardiac intensive care unit.

OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the impact of chronic cardiac care team (CCCT) on hospital course of patients, their families, and nursing staff. DESIGN: Retrospective observational study in children with hospital stay of ≥6 weeks in a pediatric cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) at a tertiary care children's hospital. Before and after care, survey of the nurses and patients family was also performed. RESULTS: The CCCT provided care for 68 patients of which 44 survived to discharge. Median age at admission was 19 days (range 0-20.6 years); 18 (26%) were admitted at birth. Cardiac diagnosis included single ventricle in 27, heart failure/cardiac transplantation in 37, others in 6. The CCCT was involved in follow-up for vitamin and endocrine deficiencies, updating immunization status, optimizing nutritional intake, growth parameters, assess feeding issues, and providing end-of-life discussions in all those who died. One year after implementation, 85% nurses indicated improved understanding of patient problems, 57% reported improved working relationship with families, and 87% reported improved team communication. Family survey indicated that implementation of the model led to significantly improved opinion of parents in their ability to participate in the plan of care (28% vs. 70%, P = 0.019) and better relationship with the CICU staff caring for their child (57% vs. 100%, P = 0.008). CONCLUSION: The CCCT provides a new team-based paradigm for improving continuity of care in chronic CICU patients by supplementing medical care and facilitates end-of-life discussions. The CCCT bridges communication gap between CICU staff and families.

Effectiveness of a simulation-based educational program in a pediatric cardiac intensive care unit.

Optimal staff performance of resuscitation skills is best achieved through regular effective training. However, providing this teaching in a busy high-acuity pediatric cardiac intensive care unit (ICU) had become a challenge due to time and logistical constraints. A program to effectively and efficiently teach ICU nurses the skills necessary in patient resuscitation was developed using simulation training to better meet staff learning needs. Training via simulation provides an ideal learning environment with hands-on experience with the roles required in patient resuscitation. A simulation training program incorporating simulation training was developed for ICU nursing staff. All staff nurses in the ICU were required to attend over a year's time. The program involved mock resuscitation scenarios in which participants performed various resuscitation roles, followed by video review and group debriefing. All participants completed a survey prior to and immediately following participation in the training and again at 1 year. Data collected included self-report of knowledge, skill, and comfort related to patient resuscitation. Data revealed statistically significant improvement in scores pre and post training and at 1 year for self-reported knowledge, skills, and comfort related to resuscitation. Nursing staff reported that simulation training in resuscitation skills was helpful and positively impacted their knowledge, comfort, and skills. Feedback from nursing staff continues to be very positive, and performance of actual resuscitations on the unit has improved anecdotally.