A multicentered prospective analysis of diagnosis, risk factors, and outcomes associated with pediatric ventilator-associated pneumonia.

OBJECTIVE: To assess risk factors and outcomes associated with pediatric ventilator-associated pneumonia. DESIGN: Multicentered prospective observational cohort. SETTING: Children's hospitals in the United States. PATIENTS: Mechanically ventilated patients less than 18 years old. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Prospective evaluation of the prevalence, risk factors, and outcomes of pediatric ventilator-associated pneumonia along with evaluation of diagnostic criterion for pediatric ventilator-associated pneumonia. The prevalence of pediatric ventilator-associated pneumonia was 5.2% (n = 2,082), for a rate of 7.1/1,000 ventilator days. Patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia had a longer unadjusted ICU length of stay (p < 0.0001) and increased length of mechanical ventilation by more than 11 days (p < 0.0001). After adjustment for patient factors, ICU length of stay (p = 0.03) and mechanical ventilation days (p = 0.001) remained significant. Patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia were almost three times more likely to die (p = 0.007). Independent risk factors for ventilator-associated pneumonia were reintubation and part-time ventilation. CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric ventilator-associated pneumonia is common in mechanically ventilated pediatric patients. These patients have longer length of stay, longer duration of mechanical ventilation, and increased risk for mortality.

Development of a Quality Improvement Learning Collaborative to Improve Pediatric Sepsis Outcomes.

Pediatric sepsis is a major public health problem. Published treatment guidelines and several initiatives have increased adherence with guideline recommendations and have improved patient outcomes, but the gains are modest, and persistent gaps remain. The Children's Hospital Association Improving Pediatric Sepsis Outcomes (IPSO) collaborative seeks to improve sepsis outcomes in pediatric emergency departments, ICUs, general care units, and hematology/oncology units. We developed a multicenter quality improvement learning collaborative of US children's hospitals. We reviewed treatment guidelines and literature through 2 in-person meetings and multiple conference calls. We defined and analyzed baseline sepsis-attributable mortality and hospital-onset sepsis and developed a key driver diagram (KDD) on the basis of treatment guidelines, available evidence, and expert opinion. Fifty-six hospital-based teams are participating in IPSO; 100% of teams are engaged in educational and information-sharing activities. A baseline, sepsis-attributable mortality of 3.1% was determined, and the incidence of hospital-onset sepsis was 1.3 cases per 1000 hospital admissions. A KDD was developed with the aim of reducing both the sepsis-attributable mortality and the incidence of hospital-onset sepsis in children by 25% from baseline by December 2020. To accomplish these aims, the KDD primary drivers focus on improving the following: treatment of infection; recognition, diagnosis, and treatment of sepsis; de-escalation of unnecessary care; engagement of patients and families; and methods to optimize performance. IPSO aims to improve sepsis outcomes through collaborative learning and reliable implementation of evidence-based interventions.

Skin integrity in critically ill and injured children.

BACKGROUND: Skin breakdown increases the cost of care, may lead to increased morbidity, and has negative psychosocial implications because of secondary scarring or alopecia. The scope of this problem has not been widely studied in critically ill and injured children. OBJECTIVES: To determine the incidence of skin breakdown in critically ill and injured children and to compare the characteristics of patients who experience skin breakdown with those of patients who do not. METHODS: Admission and follow-up data for a 15-week period were collected retrospectively on children admitted to a large pediatric intensive care unit. The incidence of skin breakdown was calculated. The risk for skin breakdown associated with potential risk factors (relative risk) and 95% confidence intervals were determined. RESULTS: The sample consisted of 401 distinct stays in the intensive care unit for 373 patients. During the 401 stays, skin breakdown occurred in 34 (8.5%), redness in 25 (6.2%), and breakdown and redness in 13 (3.2%); the overall incidence was 18%. Patients who had skin breakdown or redness were younger, had longer stays, and were more likely to have respiratory illnesses and require mechanical ventilatory support than those who did not. Patients who had skin breakdown or redness had a higher risk of mortality than those who did not. CONCLUSIONS: Risk factors for skin breakdown were similar to those previously reported. Compared with children of other ages, children 2 years or younger are at higher risk for skin breakdown.

Interventions to Improve Safe Sleep Among Hospitalized Infants at Eight Children's Hospitals.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Within hospital pediatric units, there is a lack of consistent application or modeling of the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations for safe infant sleep. The purpose of this study was to improve safe sleep practices for infants in nonneonatal pediatric units with implementation of specific interventions. METHODS: This multi-institutional study was conducted by using baseline observations collected for sleep location, position, and environment (collectively, "safe sleep") of infants admitted to pediatric units. Interventions consisted of: (1) staff education, including a commitment to promote safe sleep; (2) implementing site-generated safe sleep policies; (3) designating supply storage in patient rooms; and/or (4) caregiver education. Postintervention observations of safe sleep were collected. Eight hospitals participated from the Inpatient FOCUS Group of the Children's Hospital Association. Each site received institutional review board approval/exemption. RESULTS: Safe sleep was observed for 4.9% of 264 infants at baseline and 31.2% of 234 infants postintervention (P<.001). Extra blankets, the most common of unsafe items, were present in 77% of cribs at baseline and 44% postintervention. However, the mean number of unsafe items observed in each sleeping environment was reduced by >50% (P=.001). CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of site-specific interventions seems to improve overall safe sleep in inpatient pediatric units, although continued improvement is needed. Specifically, extra items are persistently left in the sleeping environment. Moving forward, hospitals should evaluate their compliance with American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations and embrace initiatives to improve modeling of safe sleep.

Physical Activity in Clinical Pediatric Weight Management Programs: Current Practices and Recommendations.

Physical activity (PA) is essential for youth weight management. FOCUS on a Fitter Future (FFF), a group of health care professionals from 25 children's hospitals, sponsored by the Children's Hospital Association, examined current care practices for overweight and obese youth with the goal of building consensus on outcome measurements and quality improvement for pediatric weight management programs (WMPs). WMPs completed a survey regarding PA practices, including testing, assessment and intervention. Consistency in general treatment practices was noted with variability in implementation. All programs included PA assessment and counseling. A majority of programs measured aerobic fitness, and more than half evaluated muscular fitness. Most offered group exercise sessions. Programs differed in availability of resources, assessment tools, interventions and outcome measures. Based on current practice and research, the FFF PA subgroup recommends key components for inclusion in a pediatric WMP: exercise testing, body composition assessment, PA and sedentary behaviors measures, individual exercise counseling, and group exercise programming.

Promoting Staff Resilience in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

BACKGROUND: Health care professionals experience workplace stress, which may lead to impaired physical and mental health, job turnover, and burnout. Resilience allows people to handle stress positively. Little research is aimed at finding interventions to improve resilience in health care professionals. OBJECTIVE: To describe the availability, use, and helpfulness of resilience-promoting resources and identify an intervention to implement across multiple pediatric intensive care units. METHODS: A descriptive study collecting data on availability, utilization, and impact of resilience resources from leadership teams and individual staff members in pediatric intensive care units, along with resilience scores and teamwork climate scores. RESULTS: Leadership teams from 20 pediatric intensive care units completed the leadership survey. Individual surveys were completed by 1066 staff members (51% response rate). The 2 most used and impactful resources were 1-on-1 discussions with colleagues and informal social interactions with colleagues out of the hospital. Other resources (taking a break from stressful patients, being relieved of duty after your patient's death, palliative care support for staff, structured social activities out of hospital, and Schwartz Center rounds) were highly impactful but underused. Utilization and impact of resources differed significantly between professions, between those with higher versus lower resilience, and between individuals in units with low versus high teamwork climate. CONCLUSIONS: Institutions could facilitate access to peer discussions and social interactions to promote resilience. Highly impactful resources with low utilization could be targets for improved access. Differences in utilization and impact between groups suggest that varied interventions would be necessary to reach all individuals.

Addressing prediabetes in childhood obesity treatment programs: support from research and current practice.

BACKGROUND: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and prediabetes have increased in prevalence among overweight and obese children, with significant implications for long-term health. There is little published evidence on the best approaches to care of prediabetes among overweight youth or the current practices used across pediatric weight management programs. METHODS: This article reviews the literature and summarizes current practices for screening, diagnosis, and treatment of prediabetes at childhood obesity treatment centers. Findings regarding current practice were based on responses to an online survey from 28 pediatric weight management programs at 25 children's hospitals in 2012. Based on the literature reviewed, and empiric data, consensus support statements on prediabetes care and T2DM prevention were developed among representatives of these 25 children's hospitals' obesity clinics. RESULTS: The evidence reviewed demonstrates that current T2DM and prediabetes diagnostic parameters are derived from adult-based studies with little understanding of clinical outcomes among youth. Very limited evidence exists on preventing progression of prediabetes. Some evidence suggests that a significant proportion of obese youth with prediabetes will revert to normoglycemia without pharmacological management. Evidence supports lifestyle modification for children with prediabetes, but further study of specific lifestyle changes and pharmacological treatments is needed. CONCLUSION: Evidence to guide management of prediabetes in children is limited. Current practice patterns of pediatric weight management programs show areas of variability in practice, reflecting the limited evidence base. More research is needed to guide clinical care for overweight youth with prediabetes.