Relationship Between Environmental Air Quality and Congenital Heart Defects.

BACKGROUND: Congenital heart defects (CHDs) affect 40,000 U.S. infants annually. One fourth of these infants have a critical CHD, requiring intervention within the first year of life for survival. Over 80% of CHDs have an unknown etiology. Fine particulate matter ≤2.5 (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) may be air pollutants associated with CHD. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to explore relationships between first-trimester maternal exposure to air pollutants PM2.5 and O3 and a critical CHD diagnosis. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study with nested case controls was conducted using data from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2016, and consisted of 199 infants with a diagnosed critical CHD and 550 controls. Air pollution data were obtained from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency air monitors. Geographic information system software was used to geocode monitoring stations and infant residential locations. Data analysis included frequencies, chi-square, independent t-test analysis, and binary logistic regression for two time periods: the entire first trimester (Weeks 1-12) and the critical exposure window (Weeks 3-8 gestation). RESULTS: Critical CHD odds were not significantly increased by exposure during the first trimester. However, weekly analyses revealed CHD odds were higher in Weeks 5 and 8 as PM2.5 increased and decreased in Week 11 with increased O3 exposure. DISCUSSION: Our study shows no evidence to support the overall association between air pollutants PM2.5 and O3 and a critical CHD diagnosis. However, analyses by week suggested vulnerability in certain weeks of gestation and warrant additional surveillance and study.

Evaluation of methods used to verify nasogastric feeding tube placement in hospitalized infants and children - A follow-up study.

BACKGROUND: Nasogastric (NG) feeding tubes are used to deliver nutrition, hydration, and medications to hospitalized infants and children but the ongoing use of non-evidence-based practice (EBP) methods to confirm NG tube (NGT) placement has been associated with adverse patient events. METHODS: A study was undertaken to ascertain if practice changes have occurred since findings from a previous study were published by the New Opportunities for Verification of Enteral tube Location (NOVEL) project. The NOVEL project was an initiative of the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN). A survey was distributed to member organizations participating in the NOVEL project. Respondents were also asked if and when a change in practice occurred in the policy for NGT placement verification, if there was variation within the institutional units and if there were barriers to practice change. FINDINGS: Respondents were primarily nurses (205/245) from 166 institutions that provided care to combined adult/pediatric/neonatal (122/166) patients. Respondents indicated a radiograph (64%) or pH measurement (24%) were best practice but in actual practice 42% use pH measurement and 23% use a radiograph to verify NGT placement. There was variability within institutions, with the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) most often using aspiration and direct eye visualization to verify placement and the other units within the institutions using EBP method(s). DISCUSSION: Comparing these results to previous work by the NOVEL project shows an increase toward the use of EBP method(s) to verify NGT placement verification. APPLICATION TO PRACTICE: This study demonstrates variation within units at the same facility using methods unsupported by the literature, demonstrating that many centers still rely on non-EBP methods of NG placement confirmation, despite cautions issued by many major healthcare organizations.

Pediatric Nasogastric Tube Placement and Verification: Best Practice Recommendations From the NOVEL Project.

The placement of a nasogastric tube (NGT) in a pediatric patient is a common practice that is generally perceived as a benign bedside procedure. There is potential risk for NGT misplacement with each insertion. A misplaced NGT compromises patient safety, increasing the risk for serious and even fatal complications. There is no standardized method for verification of the initial NGT placement or reverification assessment of NGT location prior to use. Measurement of the acidity or pH of the gastric aspirate is the most frequently used evidence-based method to verify NGT placement. The radiograph, when properly obtained and interpreted, is considered the gold standard to verify NGT location. However, the uncertainty regarding cumulative radiation exposure related to radiographs in pediatric patients is a concern. To minimize risk and improve patient safety, there is a need to identify best practice and to standardize care for initial and ongoing NGT location verification. This article provides consensus recommendations for best practice related to NGT location verification in pediatric patients. These consensus recommendations are not intended as absolute policy statements; instead, they are intended to supplement but not replace professional training and judgment. These consensus recommendations have been approved by the American Society for Parental and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) Board of Directors.

Pediatric Nasogastric Tubes in the Home: Recommendations for Practice.

One of the dilemmas facing home healthcare nurses is the placement of a nasogastric tube (NGT) in the home setting coupled with being assured and confident that the NGT tip is in the correct position, that is, the stomach. There are very limited data to address the issue of management of an NGT in the home care setting with even less guidance for the pediatric population. Therefore, home healthcare nurses must use agency policy and procedures coupled with their own education, knowledge, experience, and skills when performing this procedure. These may vary from agency to agency, thus providing inconsistencies in teaching and techniques.

Current Practices in Home Management of Nasogastric Tube Placement in Pediatric Patients: A Survey of Parents and Homecare Providers.

Enteral feeding tubes are used in pediatric patients to deliver nutrition, fluids or medications. The literature related to short-term feeding tube (nasogastric [NG], hereafter known as NGT, or orogastric [OGT],) use in pediatric homecare patients is sparse. This descriptive study sought to gather baseline information about these children and how their feeding tubes are managed at home. Specifically, we sought to better understand how the tubes are placed and the method(s) used for tube placement verification. Two surveys were distributed: one to parents and one to homecare providers who have direct patient contact. RESULTS: Responses were obtained from 144 parents and 66 homecare providers. Over half of the children were 12months of age or younger and had a 6 Fr feeding tube. Over 75% (108) had an NGT for 1year or less. Predominantly parents replaced the NGT but a few children self-inserted their tubes. Feeding tube placement was verified by auscultation (44%) or measurement of gastric pH (25%) in the parent's survey. Twenty-six percent of parents indicated they had misplaced an NGT at least once and 35 parents described symptoms of pulmonary misplacement. The homecare provider data indicated auscultation (39%) and pH measurement of gastric contents (28%) to verify NG tube placement location. Study results confirms a need for consistency of practice among health care professionals and in parent education for those children who require NGTs at home. It is troubling that auscultation is still widely used for NGT location confirmation despite practice alerts that warn against its use.

Use of Temporary Enteral Access Devices in Hospitalized Neonatal and Pediatric Patients in the United States.

BACKGROUND: Temporary enteral access devices (EADs), such as nasogastric (NG), orogastric (OG), and postpyloric (PP), are used in pediatric and neonatal patients to administer nutrition, fluids, and medications. While the use of these temporary EADs is common in pediatric care, it is not known how often these devices are used, what inpatient locations have the highest usage, what size tube is used for a given weight or age of patient, and how placement is verified per hospital policy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a multicenter 1-day prevalence study. Participating hospitals counted the number of NG, OG, and PP tubes present in their pediatric and neonatal inpatient population. Additional data collected included age, weight and location of the patient, type of hospital, census for that day, and the method(s) used to verify initial tube placement. RESULTS: Of the 63 participating hospitals, there was an overall prevalence of 1991 temporary EADs in a total pediatric and neonatal inpatient census of 8333 children (24% prevalence). There were 1316 NG (66%), 414 were OG (21%), and 261 PP (17%) EADs. The neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) had the highest prevalence (61%), followed by a medical/surgical unit (21%) and pediatric intensive care unit (18%). Verification of EAD placement was reported to be aspiration from the tube (n = 21), auscultation (n = 18), measurement (n = 8), pH (n = 10), and X-ray (n = 6). CONCLUSION: The use of temporary EADs is common in pediatric care. There is wide variation in how placement of these tubes is verified.

An impact evaluation of a newly developed pediatric cardiac intensive care unit.

PURPOSE: The highly complex pediatric patients with congenital heart disease require interprofessional teamwork and collaboration to ensure high-quality outcomes with low mortality and morbidity (Congenit Heart Dis. 2013;8:3-19). The purpose of this study was to conduct an impact evaluation for a newly formed pediatric cardiac intensive care unit (PCICU) and to answer: Is there a difference between the pediatric intensive care unit and the PCICU on clinical outcome measures of pediatric cardiac postoperative patients and nursing resources? DESIGN: A retrospective pretest/posttest design was used with the independent variables being type of intensive care unit. The confounding variables included demographic data, clinical outcome data, registered nurse (RN) staffing data, and RN turnover data. SETTING: The setting was a large, level I pediatric medical and surgical intensive care unit (ICU) located at a children's hospital within an academic medical center. SAMPLE: The population was pediatric cardiac postoperative patients. Patients excluded were those older than 18 years or cases without a Society of Thoracic Surgeons and European Association for Cardiothoracic Surgery Congenital Heart Surgery Mortality Category score of 1 through 5. METHODS: Owen's impact evaluation method and descriptive statistical measures, t test and Pearson χ test, were used for analysis. RESULTS: Demographic data were comparable between the pediatric intensive care unit (n = 296) and PCICU (n = 333). No statistical differences were found in several of the clinical outcome measures. Statistically significant differences were found in surgeon (P = .00) and RN nursing hours per patient day for all cardiac patients (P = .01). The PCICU time frame had a higher RN turnover rate. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of quality measures were not statistically different between the 2 ICUs. Even though statistical significance was not reached, the clinical impact of the PCICU's reduction in patient infections, mortality, and ICU length of stay was noted. IMPLICATIONS: This evaluation has provided organizational leaders the quality indicators and costs that have been impacted with the addition of interprofessional teamwork and coordination of care through the development of a PCICU.

An Interactive Evaluation of Patient/Family Centered Rounds on Pediatric Inpatient Units.

In order to provide excellent patient care and customer service, patient rounds should be efficient, effective, and timely. Also, essential healthcare team members should be present in rounds, to ensure interprofessional collaboration. Patients and families should also be included in rounds, to ensure accurate information is relayed and to ensure involvement in care planning. The purpose of this inquiry was to conduct an interactive evaluation with organizational stakeholders of patient/family centered rounds on pediatric inpatient units of a large academic medical center using a plan, do, study, act (PDSA) model.

Nasogastric tube placement and verification in children: review of the current literature.

Placement of a nasogastric enteral access device (NG-EAD), often referred to as a nasogastric tube, is a common practice and largely in the domain of nursing care. Most often an NG-EAD is placed at the bedside without radiographic assistance. Correct initial placement and ongoing location verification are the primary challenges surrounding NG-EAD use and have implications for patient safety. Although considered an innocuous procedure, placement of an NG-EAD carries risk of serious and potentially lethal complications. Despite acknowledgment that an abdominal radiograph is the gold standard, other methods of verifying placement location are widely used and have success rates from 80% to 85%. The long-standing challenges surrounding bedside placement of NG-EADs and a practice alert issued by the Child Health Patient Safety Organization on this issue were the stimuli for the conception of The New Opportunities for Verification of Enteral Tube Location Project sponsored by the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. Its mission is to identify and promote best practices with the potential of technology development that will enable accurate determination of NG-EAD placement for both the inpatient and outpatient pediatric populations. This article presents the challenges of bedside NG-EAD placement and ongoing location verification in children through an overview of the current state of the science. It is important for all healthcare professionals to be knowledgeable about the current literature, to be vigilant for possible complications, and to avoid complacency with NG-EAD placement and ongoing verification of tube location.

Nasogastric tube placement and verification in children: review of the current literature.

Placement of a nasogastric enteral access device (NG-EAD), often referred to as a nasogastric tube, is common practice and largely in the domain of nursing care. Most often an NG-EAD is placed at the bedside without radiographic assistance. Correct initial placement and ongoing location verification are the primary challenges surrounding NG-EAD use and have implications for patient safety. Although considered an innocuous procedure, placement of an NG-EAD carries risk of serious and potentially lethal complications. Despite acknowledgment that an abdominal radiograph is the gold standard, other methods of verifying placement location are widely used and have success rates from 80% to 85%. The long-standing challenges surrounding bedside placement of NG-EADs and a practice alert issued by the Child Health Patient Safety Organization on this issue were the stimuli for the conception of The New Opportunities for Verification of Enteral Tube Location Project sponsored by the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. Its mission is to identify and promote best practices with the potential of technology development that will enable accurate determination of NG-EAD placement for both the inpatient and outpatient pediatric populations. This article presents the challenges of bedside NG-EAD placement and ongoing location verification in children through an overview of the current state of the science. It is important for all health care professionals to be knowledgeable about the current literature, to be vigilant for possible complications, and to avoid complacency with NG-EAD placement and ongoing verification of tube location.

A call to action: the development of enteral access safety teams.

Safety concerns regarding the verification of nasogastric feeding tube placement prompted the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition to call for an interdisciplinary, interorganizational group to work on best practices and new technologies to address this issue in pediatric patients. This commentary calls for the development of specialized teams within hospitals to improve the quality of care provided to children and infants who require nasogastric feeding tubes. It is expands on the information presented in an article in the issue by Irving et al regarding the current status of nasogastric tube placement and verification methods.

Assessing knowledge of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome among African American women in two Mississippi communities.

PURPOSE: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is the third leading cause of Mississippi infant mortality with nonwhite infants dying of SIDS at two to three times the rate of white infants. The purpose of this study was to assess the level of SIDS related knowledge among African American women in two geographical areas of Mississippi and gain insight on improving methods for SIDS education and outreach. DESIGN: An African American faculty was contracted to conduct six focus groups among African American women (n = 57) in two geographical areas of the state. FINDINGS: Themes were common among participants from both the metropolitan and rural Delta communities. Participants in both geographical areas were familiar with [or at least had previously heard] the term SIDS. Unfortunately, there was inconsistency among participants as to the source of information. Given the inconsistencies, it is not surprising that overall knowledge related to SIDS was incomplete and in some cases inaccurate. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: Some information regarding SIDS is available in the various communities. Unfortunately, the information is not fully understood and is not consistently distributed resulting in a lack of knowledge among these women and thus, a continued risk for high rates of SIDS events in Mississippi.

Integrated community education model: breast health awareness to impact late-stage breast cancer.

Race and ethnicity play roles in breast cancer mortality, particularly for African American women. As a result, a three-pronged integrated community education model (i.e., faith-based, community, and state agencies) was generated and tested in a medically underserved area with high mortality rates from breast cancer to increase participation in breast health education, provide early screening and detection practices, and provide access to annual mammograms and referral sources. The model provided three women with life-saving early diagnoses, in addition to providing potentially hundreds of women with a network of breast health, self-monitoring, and referral sources for future issues.

Stemming the tide of childhood obesity in an underserved urban African American population: a pilot study.

Recent data indicate that Americans are gaining weight at an alarming rate. It is estimated that over 12 million American children ages 2-19 years are overweight, with African American (AA) children comprising 20% of this cohort. The problem of obesity appears to be more prominent in some southern states. According to a new report by the Trust for America's Health, Mississippi has the 1st highest rate of adult obesity and the 8th highest rate of overweight youth ages 10-17 nationwide. The Kids for Healthy Eating and Exercising (KHEE) club was a model developed in the North Midtown area of Jackson, Mississippi. The purpose of this project was to develop the first weight control program and model specifically designed for AA children in the North Midtown area of the city of Jackson. This program devised measures to effectively enhance the lifestyle changes of selected obese children representing the target population. Results of the pilot project revealed the following changes among all participants: a decrease in body mass index (BMI); a decrease in waist girth of greater than 4 inches; and positive behavioral changes as documented in the daily entries of the participants' food journal.