Improving Isotonic Maintenance Intravenous Fluid Use at a Tertiary Children's Hospital.

OBJECTIVES: Maintenance intravenous fluids (IVFs) are routinely used in the care of hospitalized children. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published clinical practice guidelines in November 2018 that recommended the use of isotonic maintenance IVF. Our primary aim was to increase the proportion of hospital days pediatric inpatients were exclusively administered isotonic maintenance IVF to ≥80% by May 2020 at our institution. METHODS: We conducted a single-center quality improvement (QI) study as part of an AAP collaborative. An interdisciplinary team led QI interventions including providing targeted education to clinicians, integrating guideline recommendations into the electronic medical record, engaging hospital leaders, and providing performance data to clinicians. Our study population included children ages 28 days to 18 years admitted to inpatient wards. Our primary outcome was the proportion of hospital days with exclusive isotonic maintenance IVF use. Balancing measures included transfers to the ICU, ordering of serum sodium laboratory tests, and adverse events. Data were analyzed by using statistical process control. RESULTS: We analyzed 500 hospital admissions and found a significant increase in exclusive isotonic IVF use (63% to 95%) within 9 months of starting our QI intervention. We found no significant changes in balancing measures (serum sodium laboratory tests [24% to 25%], ICU transfer [0.3% to 1%], adverse events [0.3% to 1%]). CONCLUSIONS: Our interdisciplinary QI team led interventions that were associated with significant improvements in isotonic IVF use, in accordance with AAP clinical practice guidelines. With our study, we provide detailed guidance on successful interventions for implementing this evidence-based guideline.

Listening Beyond Auscultating: A Quality Initiative to Improve Communication Scores in the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Care Practitioners and Systems Survey.

INTRODUCTION: Physician communication is critical to patient care. However, integration of sound communication practice with clinical workflows has proven difficult. In this quality improvement initiative, medical students used the rapid improvement model to test interventions that could enhance patients' perception of listening by physicians as measured by the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey. METHODS: Literature review and process analysis yielded 42 potential interventions, of which 24 were feasible for implementation. Small-scale testing established the 4 most promising interventions; pilot testing was subsequently undertaken on the entire Medicine service. Patient and physician feedback guided further refinement. The final intervention used a structured reminder embedded in the electronic health record to direct physicians to begin interviews by eliciting patient concerns. RESULTS: Patient concerns elicited after implementation included pain symptoms (28%), disease or treatment course (16%), and discharge planning (10%). In the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey, physician listening scores rose from a 2014 average of 73.6% to 77% in 2015. DISCUSSION: Among 24 tested interventions, an open-ended question was most feasible and had the greatest perceived impact by hospitalists and patients. A structured reminder embedded in required electronic medical record documentation facilitated the behavioral change without being overly burdensome to physicians and established a mechanism to enact change in practice. CONCLUSION: Medical students used established improvement methods to promote patient-centered care and align patient and physician agendas, providing a strategy to improve hospitalized patients' perceptions of physician listening.

Large Vessel Arteriopathy After Cranial Radiation Therapy in Pediatric Brain Tumor Survivors.

Among childhood cancer survivors, increased stroke risk after cranial radiation therapy may be caused by radiation-induced arteriopathy, but limited data exist to support this hypothesis. Herein, we assess the timing and presence of cerebral arteriopathy identified by magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) after cranial radiation therapy in childhood brain tumor survivors. In a cohort of 115 pediatric brain tumor survivors, we performed chart abstraction and prospective annual follow-up to assess the presence of large vessel cerebral arteriopathy by MRA. We identified 10 patients with cerebral arteriopathy. The cumulative incidence of arteriopathy 5 years post-cranial radiation therapy was 5.4% (CI 0.6%-10%) and 10 years was 16% (CI 4.6%-26%). One patient had an arterial ischemic stroke 2.4 years post-cranial radiation therapy in the distribution of a radiation-induced stenotic artery. We conclude that large vessel arteriopathies can occur within a few years of cranial radiation therapy and can become apparent on MRA in under a year.