Reducing Overutilization of High-flow Nasal Cannula in Children with Bronchiolitis.

Background: Bronchiolitis is a leading cause of pediatric hospitalizations. A high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) does not significantly improve clinical outcomes and is associated with increased costs and intensive care unit (ICU) utilization. Despite this, hospitals continue to overuse HFNC in children with bronchiolitis. We aimed to reduce HFNC initiation in children hospitalized with bronchiolitis by 20 percentage points within 6 months. Methods: This study included patients aged 1 month to 2 years diagnosed with bronchiolitis, excluding patients with prematurity less than 32 weeks or preexisting cardiopulmonary, genetic, congenital, or neuromuscular abnormalities. Measures included HFNC utilization, length of stay, length of oxygen supplementation (LOOS), ICU transfers, and emergency department (ED) revisits and readmissions. For our primary intervention, we implemented a HFNC initiation protocol incorporating a respiratory scoring system, a multidisciplinary care-team huddle, and an emphasis on supportive care. Staff education, electronic health record integration, and audit and feedback were used to support implementation. Statistical process control charts were used to track metrics. Results: We analyzed 325 hospitalizations (126 baseline and 199 postintervention). The proportion of children hospitalized with bronchiolitis who received HFNC decreased from a mean of 82% to 60% within 1 month of implementation. Length of stay decreased from a median of 54 to 42 hours, and length of oxygen supplementation decreased from 50 to 38 hours. There were no significant changes in ICU transfers, 7-day ED revisits, or readmissions. Conclusions: Implementing a HFNC initiation protocol can safely reduce the overutilization of HFNC in children hospitalized with bronchiolitis.

Acceptability of Deimplementing High-Flow Nasal Cannula in Pediatric Bronchiolitis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: High-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) in children hospitalized with bronchiolitis does not significantly improve clinical outcomes but can increase costs and intensive care unit use. Given widespread HFNC use, it is imperative to reduce use. However, there is limited information on key factors that affect deimplementation. To explore acceptability of HFNC deimplementation, perceptions of HFNC benefits, and identify barriers and facilitators to deimplementation. METHODS: We conducted a study of health care providers that included quantitative survey data supplemented by semistructured interviews. Data were analyzed using univariate tests and thematic content analysis. RESULTS: A total of 152 (39%) providers completed the survey; 9 participated in interviews. Eighty-three (55%) providers reported feeling positively about deimplementing HFNC. Reports of feeling positively increased as perceived familiarity with evidence increased (P = .04). Physicians were more likely than nurses and respiratory therapists to report feeling positively (P = .003). Hospital setting and years of clinical experience were not associated with feeling positively (P = .98 and .55, respectively). One hundred (66%) providers attributed nonevidence-based clinical benefits to HFNC. Barriers to deimplementation included discomfort with not intervening, perception that HFNC helps, and variation in risk tolerance and clinical experience. Facilitators promoting deimplementation include staff education, a culture of safely doing less, and enhanced multidisciplinary communication. CONCLUSIONS: Deimplementation of HFNC in children with bronchiolitis is acceptable among providers. Hospital leaders should educate staff, create a culture for safely doing less, and enhance multidisciplinary communication to facilitate deimplementation.

Unvaccinated Non-Elderly Adult Population Hospitalized for COVID-19: Risk for Severe Disease and Poor Outcomes.

INTRODUCTION: Vaccination offers significant protection against hospitalization and death due to severe COVID-19. However, a significant portion of the nonelderly U.S. adult population remains unvaccinated. METHODS: This retrospective analysis of adult patients aged under 65 years hospitalized with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 between March and November 2021 assessed the age-biased risk for severe disease and outcome in non-elderly unvaccinated adults hospitalized for COVID-19. Main measures included predisposing risk factors, disease severity and progression, and outcomes in non-elderly adults compared between (1) vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals and (2) unvaccinated individuals grouped by 10-year age increment. RESULTS: Two hundred nineteen non-elderly adults were included; of whom, 82.6% were unvaccinated. Overall, unvaccinated patients were more likely to be obese (60% vs 29%, P < .001) while vaccinated patients were more likely to have cardiovascular disease (50% vs 29%, P = .03). Unvaccinated individuals had prolonged ICU stay (11 vs 2 days, P = .002) and overall length of stay (6 vs 5 days, P < .0001), and higher proportion requiring oxygen at discharge (54% vs 29%, P < .0001). An age-stratified analysis of the unvaccinated cohort found that the time to discharge increased with age (P = .003). Compared to unvaccinated patients aged <46 years, unvaccinated patients aged ≥46 years demonstrated 1.47- and 3.49-times higher likelihood of oxygen dependency upon discharge (P = .002) and requiring higher level of care or worse at discharge (P = .004), respectively. CONCLUSION: Results from our non-elderly cohort affirm the benefit of vaccination despite a subset requiring hospitalization for breakthrough infection. In unvaccinated non-elderly adults, risk for worse outcomes and severe disease increased substantially from middle age onward and provides strong support for vaccination efforts in this population.

Human-specific GAPDH qRT-PCR is an accurate and sensitive method of xenograft metastasis quantification.

Metastasis is the primary cause of cancer-related mortality. Experimental models that accurately reflect changes in metastatic burden are essential tools for developing treatments and to gain a better understanding of disease. Murine xenograft tumor models mimic the human scenario and provide a platform for metastasis analyses. An ex vivo quantitative method, gaining favor for its ease and accuracy, is quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR); however, it is currently unclear how well this method correlates with gold-standard histological analysis, and its use has required detection of overexpressed exogenous genes. We have introduced a variation of the qRT-PCR method: human-specific glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) qRT-PCR, which allows quantification of metastasis in xenograft models without the requirement of overexpressed exogenous genes. This makes the method easily amenable to many xenograft models without alteration of the cancer cells. We determined that the method is able to detect a few human cells within abundant mouse lung tissue. Further, the human-specific GAPDH qRT-PCR is more sensitive and correlates with histological analysis in terms of determining relative metastatic burden, suggesting that human-specific GAPDH qRT-PCR could be used as a primary method for quantification of disseminated human cells in murine xenograft models.

Macronutrient analysis of donor human milk labelled as 24 kcal/oz.

OBJECTIVE: To measure the macronutrient content (MNC) of donor human milk labelled as 24 kcal/oz ("high-calorie DHM," hcDHM), compare to bank-labelled MNC, and examine variability of hcDHM MNC among milk banks. STUDY DESIGN: MNC was measured with near-infrared spectroscopy for 75 convenience samples from five milk banks collected during September 2016-July 2017. Concordance of measured MNC with labelled values was evaluated using three different thresholds: within ±20%, similar to FDA labelling standards for class II nutrients in foods; ±10%; and ±5%. RESULTS: Protein and caloric content differed significantly between measured and labelled values and varied significantly among milk banks. Measured caloric content ranged from 16.50 to 30.27 kcal/oz, with 89.3% of hcDHM samples within ±20%, 58.7% within ±10%, and 18.7% within ±5% of labelled content. CONCLUSIONS: MNC of hcDHM used in clinical practice shows variation that may result in differences from desired diet. The clinical implications of such differences are unexplored.