Impact of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Preadmission Huddle on Perceptions of Interprofessional Communication About Patient Safety.

BACKGROUND: Preadmission discussions in the study institution's pediatric intensive care unit are not standardized and admission plans were thought to be disjointed, leading to a perceived lack of organization and preparation for the arrival of a critically ill child. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of a new, formalized preadmission pediatric intensive care unit interdisciplinary huddle on clinician perceptions of interprofessional communication. The hypothesis was that preadmission huddles would improve unit clinicians' perceptions of interprofessional communication. METHODS: Interprofessional pediatric intensive care unit clinicians (physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, and respiratory therapists) completed surveys before and 7 months after preadmission interdisciplinary huddle implementation. Huddle compliance and perceptions of interprofessional communication in the unit were evaluated. RESULTS: Of 265 eligible pediatric intensive care unit admissions, 69 huddles (26.0%) occurred. The postintervention survey revealed increased odds (odds ratio [95% CI]) of responding "strongly agree" or "agree" to questions about the opportunity to "communicate effectively with health care team members" (2.42 [1.10-5.34]), "respond to feedback from health care team members" (2.54 [1.23-5.24]), and "convey knowledge to other health care team members" (2.71 [1.31-5.61]) before an admission. DISCUSSION: This study introduced a formalized huddle that improved pediatric intensive care unit clinicians' perceived communication with other health care team members in the preadmission period. CONCLUSIONS: Future studies are needed to determine if this perceived improvement in communication significantly affects health care outcomes of critically ill children or if these results are generalizable to other pediatric intensive care unit settings.

Emergency Department Referral Process and Subsequent Use of Safety-Net Clinics.

We analyzed data on 10,761 low-income emergency department (ED) patients participating in the Emergency Department-Primary Care Connect program to identify successful methods of disseminating information on availability of primary care clinics. Data were obtained from all five hospitals in Montgomery County, Maryland, four participating county clinics, and from patient navigators. A two-part negative binomial model estimated factors associated with the probability of a clinic visit following a referral, and factors associated with the frequency of subsequent clinic visits. Twenty-one percent of patients had a subsequent clinic visit, and two-thirds of these patients returned for a second clinic visit. Patients were more likely to make the initial clinic visit if the referral was made by both the ED Provider and the patient navigator, relative to referral by the ED provider only. ED providers and patient navigators helped patients gain access to primary care services by referring them to safety-net clinics.

Linking uninsured patients treated in the emergency department to primary care shows some promise in Maryland.

Use of the emergency department (ED) has increased significantly over the past twenty years, especially among people who lack access to regular care, such as from a primary care provider. Not only are many ED visits avoidable, but receiving care through the ED also may disrupt continuity of care and result in increased overall health care costs. This article analyzes one of the twenty-nine local projects funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: the Emergency Department-Primary Care Connect initiative of the Primary Care Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland. The initiative linked low-income or uninsured patients with local safety-net primary care providers. In the period 2009-11, five participating hospital EDs referred 10,761 low-income uninsured ED patients to four local primary care clinics. The intervention did not significantly reduce overall subsequent ED visits, but there was a significant reduction in subsequent ED visits among the subpopulation with chronic physical or behavioral conditions if they had more than two visits to the same primary care clinic. Our findings suggest that expansion of safety-net clinics, combined with strategies to link high-need patients in the ED with these primary care providers, can reduce subsequent ED use.

Development and implementation of a navigator-facilitated care coordination algorithm to improve clinical outcomes of underserved Latino patients with uncontrolled diabetes.

Development and implementation of an interprofessional navigator-facilitated care coordination algorithm (NAVCOM) for low-income, uninsured patients with uncontrolled diabetes at a safety-net clinic resulted in improvement of disease control as evidenced by improvement in hemoglobin A1C. This report describes the process and lessons learned from the development and implementation of NAVCOM and patient success stories.

Nutrition and physical activity during and after cancer treatment: an American Cancer Society guide for informed choices.

Cancer survivors are often highly motivated to seek information about food choices, physical activity, dietary supplement use, and complementary nutritional therapies to improve their treatment outcomes, quality of life, and survival. To address these concerns, the American Cancer Society (ACS) convened a group of experts in nutrition, physical activity, and cancer to evaluate the scientific evidence and best clinical practices related to optimal nutrition and physical activity after the diagnosis of cancer. This report summarizes their findings and is intended to present health care providers with the best possible information on which to help cancer survivors and their families make informed choices related to nutrition and physical activity. The report discusses nutrition and physical activity issues during the phases of cancer treatment and recovery, living after recovery from treatment, and living with advanced cancer; selected nutritional and physical activity issues such as body weight, food choices, and complementary and alternative nutritional options; and selected issues related to breast, colorectal, lung, prostate, head and neck, and upper gastrointestinal cancers. In addition, handouts containing commonly asked questions and answers and a resource list are provided for survivors and families. Tables that grade the scientific evidence for benefit versus harm related to nutrition and physical activity for breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancers are also included for this growing body of knowledge to provide guidance for informed decision making and to identify areas for future research.