Buckle me up! A randomised controlled trial using a tablet-based emergency department intervention for child car safety education.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Correct child car restraint use significantly reduces risk of death and serious injury in motor vehicle crashes, but millions of US children ride with improper restraints. We created a tablet-based car restraint educational intervention using Computer Intervention Authoring Software (CIAS) and examined its impact on knowledge and behaviours among parents in the paediatric emergency department (PED). METHODS: This was a non-blinded, randomised controlled trial of parents of PED patients ages 0-12 years. Participants were evaluated for baseline car restraint knowledge and behaviour. The intervention group completed an interactive tablet-based module, while the control group received printed handouts on car restraint safety. After 1 week, both groups received a follow-up survey assessing changes in car restraint knowledge and behaviour. Logistic regressions determined predictors of knowledge retention and behavioural changes. Parents in the CIAS group were also surveyed on programme acceptability. RESULTS: 211 parents completed the study with follow-up data. There was no significant difference in baseline car restraint knowledge (74.3% correct in intervention, 61.8% in control, p=0.15), or increase in follow-up restraint knowledge. Significantly more intervention-group caregivers reported modifying their child's car restraint at follow-up (52.5% vs 31.8%,p=0.003), and 93.7% of them found CIAS helpful in learning to improve car safety. CONCLUSION: Parents had overall high levels of car restraint knowledge. Using CIAS led to positive behavioural changes regarding child car restraint safety, with the vast majority reporting positive attitudes towards CIAS. This novel, interactive, tablet-based tool is a useful PED intervention for behavioural change in parents. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03799393.

Emergency department resource utilization among nursing home residents, a National Cross-Sectional Study.

OBJECTIVES: Persons 65 years and older (older persons), particularly residents of nursing homes (NHs), disproportionately access the emergency department (ED) and utilize more medical resources. The goal of this study is to provide a contemporary description of healthcare utilization patterns and disposition decisions for United States (US) NH residents presenting to EDs. METHODS: Older persons presenting to EDs in the US were identified in the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) 2017, 2018 and 2019 datasets. We examined demographic, clinical, and resource use characteristics and outcomes. After survey weighting, we compared the frequency of different imaging, medications, clinical interventions, and outcomes in the ED between NH residents and those residing outside NHs. RESULTS: From 2017 to 2019, older persons made 24,441,285 annual visits to the ED, comprising 17.5% of all visits. Among these, 1,579,916 visits (6.5%) were by NH residents. Compared with non-NH residents, NH residents were older (mean age: 81.2 [95%CI 81.5-82.9] vs 76.1 [95%CI 75.8-76.4]), underwent more imaging (82.8% [95%CI 79.5-86.1] vs 71.6% [95%CI 69.9-73.3]), were administered fewer potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) in the ED or upon discharge (9.5% [95%CI 6.2-2.7] vs 17.1% [95%CI 15.8-18.4]), and had a higher proportion of visits resulting in hospital admission (44.1% [95%CI 38.2-49.9] vs 26.0% [95%CI 23.3, 28.7]). CONCLUSIONS: Older NH residents presenting to the ED use more resources and are more likely to be hospitalized compared to older persons residing outside NHs. The resource-intensive nature of these visits highlights the importance of targeted, multi-disciplinary interventions that optimize ED care for this population.

Extremes of Emergency Department Boarding are Associated With Poorer Financial Performance Among Hospitals.

GOAL: Boarding emergency department (ED) patients is associated with reductions in quality of care, patient safety and experience, and ED operational efficiency. However, ED boarding is ultimately reflective of inefficiencies in hospital capacity management. The ability of a hospital to accommodate variability in patient flow presumably affects its financial performance, but this relationship is not well studied. We investigated the relationship between ED boarding and hospital financial performance measures. Our objective was to see if there was an association between key financial measures of business performance and limitations in patient progression efficiency, as evidenced by ED boarding. METHODS: Cross-sectional ED operational data were collected from the Emergency Department Benchmarking Alliance, a voluntarily self-reporting operational database that includes 54% of EDs in the United States. Freestanding EDs, pediatric EDs and EDs with missing boarding data were excluded. The key operational outcome variable was boarding time. We reviewed the financial information of these nonprofit institutions by accessing their Internal Revenue Service Form 990. We examined standard measures of financial performance, including return on equity, total margin, total asset turnover, and equity multiplier (EM). We studied these associations using quantile regressions of added ED volume, ED admission percentage, urban versus nonurban ED site location, trauma status, and percentage of the population receiving Medicare and Medicaid as covariates in the regression models. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Operational data were available for 892 EDs from 31 states. Of those, 127 reported a Form 990 in the year corresponding to the ED boarding measures. Median boarding time across EDs was 148 min (interquartile range [IQR]: 100-216). A significant relationship exists between boarding and the EM, along with a negative association with the hospital's total profit margin in the highest-performing hospitals (by profit margin percentage). After adjusting for the covariates in the regression model, we found that for every 10 min above 90 min of boarding, the mean EM for the top quartile increased from 245.8% to 249.5% (p < .001). In hospitals in the top 90th percentile of total margin, every 10 min beyond the median ED boarding interval led to a decrease in total margin of 0.24%. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Using the largest available national registry of ED operational data and concordant nonprofit financial reports, higher boarding among the highest-profitability hospitals (i.e., top 10%) is associated with a drag on profit margin, while hospitals with the highest boarding are associated with the highest leverage (i.e., indicated by the EM). These relationships suggest an association between a key ED indicator of hospital capacity management and overall institutional financial performance.

The Accuracy of Predictive Analytics in Forecasting Emergency Department Volume Before and After Onset of COVID-19.

Introduction: Big data and improved analytic techniques, such as triple exponential smoothing (TES), allow for prediction of emergency department (ED) volume. We sought to determine 1) which method of TES was most accurate in predicting pre-coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), during COVID-19, and post-COVID-19 ED volume; 2) how the pandemic would affect TES prediction accuracy; and 3) whether TES would regain its pre-COVID-19 accuracy in the early post-pandemic period. Methods: We studied monthly volumes of four EDs with a combined annual census of approximately 250,000 visits in the two years prior to, during the 25-month COVID-19 pandemic, and the 14 months following. We compared the accuracy of four models of TES forecasting by measuring the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), mean square errors (MSE) and mean absolute deviation (MAD), comparing actual to predicted monthly volume. Results: In the 23 months prior to COVID-19, the overall average MAPE across four forecasting methods was 3.88% ± 1.88% (range 2.41-6.42% across the four ED sites), rising to 15.21% ± 6.67% during the 25-month COVID-19 period (range 9.97-25.18% across the four sites), and falling to 6.45% ± 3.92% in the 14 months after (range 3.86-12.34% across the four sites). The 12-month Holt-Winter method had the greatest accuracy prior to COVID-19 (3.18% ± 1.65%) and during the pandemic (11.31% ± 4.81%), while the 24-month Holt-Winter offered the best performance following the pandemic (5.91% ± 3.82%). The pediatric ED had an average MAPE more than twice that of the average MAPE of the three adult EDs (6.42% ± 1.54% prior to COVID-19, 25.18% ± 9.42% during the pandemic, and 12.34% ± 0.55% after COVID-19). After the onset of the pandemic, there was no immediate improvement in forecasting model accuracy until two years later; however, these still had not returned to baseline accuracy levels. Conclusion: We were able to identify a TES model that was the most accurate. Most of the models saw an approximate four-fold increase in MAPE after onset of the pandemic. In the months following the most severe waves of COVID-19, we saw improvements in the accuracy of forecasting models, but they were not back to pre-COVID-19 accuracies.

Prediction of anemia in real-time using a smartphone camera processing conjunctival images.

Anemia is defined as a low hemoglobin (Hb) concentration and is highly prevalent worldwide. We report on the performance of a smartphone application (app) that records images in RAW format of the palpebral conjunctivae and estimates Hb concentration by relying upon computation of the tissue surface high hue ratio. Images of bilateral conjunctivae were obtained prospectively from a convenience sample of 435 Emergency Department patients using a dedicated smartphone. A previous computer-based and validated derivation data set associating estimated conjunctival Hb (HBc) and the actual laboratory-determined Hb (HBl) was used in deriving Hb estimations using a self-contained mobile app. Accuracy of HBc was 75.4% (95% CI 71.3, 79.4%) for all categories of anemia, and Bland-Altman plot analysis showed a bias of 0.10 and limits of agreement (LOA) of (-4.73, 4.93 g/dL). Analysis of HBc estimation accuracy around different anemia thresholds showed that AUC was maximized at transfusion thresholds of 7 and 9 g/dL which showed AUC values of 0.92 and 0.90 respectively. We found that the app is sufficiently accurate for detecting severe anemia and shows promise as a population-sourced screening platform or as a non-invasive point-of-care anemia classifier.

Trends in recurrent overdose and treatment initiation following emergency department visits for opioid overdose between 2016 and 2021.

BACKGROUND: Overdose remains a pressing public health concern in the United States, particularly with the emergence of fentanyl and other potent synthetic opioids in the drug supply. We evaluated trends in recurrent overdose and opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment initiation following emergency department (ED) visits for opioid overdose to inform response efforts. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study used electronic health record and statewide administrative data from Rhode Island residents who visited EDs for opioid overdose between July 1, 2016, and June 30, 2021, a period with fentanyl predominance in the local drug supply. The primary outcome was recurrent overdose in the 365 days following the initial ED visit. OUD treatment initiation within 180 days following the initial ED visit was considered as a secondary outcome. Trends in study outcomes were summarized by year of the initial ED visit. RESULTS: Among 1745 patients attending EDs for opioid overdose, 20 % (n=352) experienced a recurrent overdose within 365 days, and this percentage was similar by year (p=0.12). Among patients who experienced any recurrent overdose, the median time to first recurrent overdose was 88 days (interquartile range=23-208), with 85 % (n=299/352) being non-fatal. Among patients not engaged in OUD treatment at their initial ED visit, 33 % (n=448/1370) initiated treatment within 180 days; this was similar by year (p=0.98). CONCLUSIONS: Following ED visits for opioid overdose in Rhode Island from 2016-2021, the one-year risk of recurrent overdose and six-month treatment initiation rate remained stable over time. Innovative prevention strategies and improved treatment access are needed.

Adolescents' Perceptions of Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment Service at Pediatric Trauma Centers.

Objective: Screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) for adolescent alcohol and drug (AOD) use is recommended to occur with adolescents admitted to pediatric trauma centers. Most metrics on SBIRT service delivery only reference medical record documentation. In this analysis we examined changes in adolescents' perception of SBIRT services and concordance of adolescent-report and medical record data, among a sample of adolescents admitted before and after institutional SBIRT implementation. Methods: We implemented SBIRT for adolescent AOD use using the Science to Service Laboratory implementation strategy and enrolled adolescents at 9 pediatric trauma centers. The recommended clinical workflow was for nursing to screen, social work to provide adolescents screening positive with brief intervention and referral to their PCP for continued AOD discussions with those. Adolescents screening as high-risk also referred to specialty services. Adolescents were enrolled and contacted 30 days after discharge and asked about their perception of any SBIRT services received. Data were also extracted from enrolled patient's medical record. Results: There were 430 adolescents enrolled, with 424 that were matched to their EHR data and 329 completed the 30-day survey. In this sample, EHR documented screening increased from pre-implementation to post-implementation (16.3%-65.7%) and brief interventions increased (27.1%-40.7%). Adolescents self-reported higher rates of being asked about alcohol or drug use than in EHR data both pre- and post-implementation (80.7%-81%). Both EHR data and adolescent self-reported data demonstrated low referral back to PCP for continued AOD discussions. Conclusions: Implementation of SBIRT at pediatric trauma centers was not associated with change in adolescent perceptions of SBIRT, despite improved documentation of delivery of AOD screening and interventions. Adolescents perceived being asked about AOD use more often than was documented. Referral to PCP or specialty care for continued AOD discussion remains an area of needed attention. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT03297060.

Implementing Screening, Brief Interventions, and Referral to Treatment at Pediatric Trauma Centers: A Step Wedge Cluster Randomized Trial.

BACKGROUND: Pediatric trauma centers have had challenges meeting the American College of Surgeons criteria for screening and intervening for alcohol with adolescent trauma patients. The study objective was to conduct an implementation trial to evaluate the effectiveness of the Science to Service Laboratory (SSL) implementation strategy in improving alcohol and other drugs (AOD) screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) delivery at pediatric trauma centers. METHODS: Using a stepped wedge cross-over cluster randomized design, 10 US pediatric trauma centers received the SSL implementation strategy to deliver SBIRT with admitted adolescent (12-17 years old) trauma patients. The strategy adapted three core SSL elements: didactic training, performance feedback, and facilitation. The main outcome measured was SBIRT reach. Data were collected from each center's electronic health record (EHR) during pre- and post-implementation wedges (2018-2022). RESULTS: EHR data from 8461 adolescent patients were extracted. Aggregated across all sites, the reach of screening with a validated AOD screening tool increased significantly from 25.2% (95% CI: 23.9, 26.5%) of adolescents during pre-implementation to 47.7% (95% CI: 46.3%, 49.2%) post-implementation. There was variability of change across centers. Brief interventions continued to be delivered at high levels to identified adolescents. Referral to primary care providers for further AOD discussion or referral to specialty service for adolescents with high risk use did not improve post-implementation and remained low. CONCLUSIONS: The SSL implementation strategy can be successfully utilized by pediatric trauma centers to improve AOD screening, but challenges exist in connecting adolescents for continuation of AOD discussions after discharge. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level II, Therapeutic.