Patient and Family Experience With Discharge Directly Home From the Pediatric ICU.

BACKGROUND: Children are increasingly discharged directly from the PICU. Transitions have been recognized as a period of increased patient and caregiver stress and risk of adverse events. No study has evaluated patient and caregiver outcomes after direct discharge from the PICU. This study aimed to explore the family's experiences with discharge directly home (DDH) from the PICU. METHODS: This exploratory mixed-methods study was conducted in the PICU of the Institution is Sainte-Justine Hospital from February to July 2021. We included families of children expected to be DDH within 12 hours. Semistructured interviews were conducted at discharge, followed by telephone interviews 7 and 28 days post-PICU discharge. We measured comfort on a 5-point Likert scale and screened for anxiety using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 tool. RESULTS: Families of 25 patients were interviewed. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed several themes, such as feeling stress and anxiety, feeling confident, anticipating home care, and needing support. These findings complemented the quantitative findings; the median comfort score was 4 (comfortable) (interquartile range 4-5) and 8 (interquartile range 4-12) for the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 on the day of discharge, with 16 reporting clinically significant anxiety. In the 28-day study period, 2 patients were readmitted and 6 had visited the emergency department. CONCLUSIONS: Despite feelings of anxiety, many families felt comfortable with DDH from the PICU. Increasing our understanding of the patient and family experiences of discharge from the PICU will help to better support these patients and their families during transition.

Higher dose imatinib for children with de novo chronic phase chronic myelogenous leukemia: a report from the Children's Oncology Group.

PURPOSE: To determine the efficacy of imatinib in children with newly diagnosed chronic phase (CP) chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). METHODS: This was an open label, multi-center phase II clinical trial. Courses were defined as consecutive 28-day intervals. Oral imatinib was administered daily at 340 mg/m² without interruption in the absence of toxicity. RESULTS: Fifty-one children received 978 28-day courses of imatinib. The most common toxicities encountered were hematologic. Forty-one patients (80%) achieved a complete hematologic response by the end of course 2. Nineteen children (38%) obtained a complete cytogenetic response (CCyR) at the end of course 3. Overall, 72% achieved CCyR at a median time of 5.6 months. The rate of complete molecular response (>3 log reduction) was 27%. Progression-free and overall survival at 3 years were 72% ± 6.4% and 92% ± 3.9%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Daily oral imatinib at a dose of 340 mg/m² is well tolerated in children. In addition, imatinib therapy is effective in inducing a high percent of hematologic, cytogenetic and molecular responses, comparable to adults with CML. (This study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov under identifier NCT00030394.).