Improving the Documentation of Penicillin Allergy Labels Among Pediatric Inpatients.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Penicillin allergy is the most common medication allergy, and the penicillin allergy label is commonly over-applied without adequate reaction history inquiry or documentation. Because penicillin allergy labels are often applied in childhood and carried into adulthood, we sought to increase the completeness of reaction history documentation from 20% to 70% for pediatric hospital medicine patients and from 20% to 50% for all other pediatric inpatients within 12 months. As a secondary outcome, we also aimed to increase the proportion of delabeling unnecessary penicillin labels to 20% for all pediatric inpatients. METHODS: To address our aims, our quality improvement initiative included education for pediatric faculty and staff, development and implementation of a clinical pathway for allergy risk stratification, and electronic health record optimizations. Statistical process control charts were used to track the impact of the interventions facilitated by an automated dashboard. RESULTS: Within 12 months of interventions, the completeness of allergy labels improved from 20% to 64% among patients admitted to the pediatric hospital medicine service and improved from 20% to 45% for all other pediatric inpatients. The frequency of penicillin allergy delabeling remained unchanged; however, 98 patients were risk stratified and 34 received outpatient allergy referrals for further testing. The number of adverse drug reactions to penicillin, a balancing measure, did not change during the study period. CONCLUSIONS: We increased the completeness of penicillin allergy documentation using a standardized workflow facilitated by a multidisciplinary clinical pathway. With ongoing efforts, more penicillin delabeling in low-risk patients is anticipated.

Prompting Rounding Teams to Address a Daily Best Practice Checklist in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

BACKGROUND: Implementation of best practices for pediatric ICU (PICU) patients is challenging. The objective of this project was to improve process of care outcomes and clinical outcomes by having a dedicated person (quality champion [QC]) prompt PICU rounding teams to address a daily best practice rounding checklist. METHODS: A prospective cohort study was performed in an academic tertiary referral PICU, which implemented a daily rounding checklist, including reminders to assess central line/urinary catheter need, sedation goals, sedative/paralytic need, enteral nutrition readiness, and extubation readiness. Data were collected on patient characteristics, process of care outcomes, and clinical outcomes over three periods: before and after the checklist was implemented and after the practice of prompting for checklist use was instituted. RESULTS: Over nine months, 444 patients were included. The QC was present on rounds 94 of 139 (67.6%) days. Checklist adherence (all checklist items discussed daily) improved from 75.7% to 86.6% of patients. There was a reduction in urinary catheter days across all time periods (p = 0.001), and post hoc analysis showed fewer blood draws (p = 0.049) among patients for whom the QC was present consistently during rounds. There was also a decrease in PICU length of stay after the checklist was implemented (p = 0.008), although this may be due to less severity of illness in the prompted cohort. CONCLUSION: Prompting PICU rounding teams to address a daily best practice rounding checklist may improve some process of care outcomes. Further study is needed to delineate long-term effects of this initiative.

Altered Treg and cytokine responses in RSV-infected infants.

BACKGROUND: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in children under 1 y of age in the USA. The host immune response is believed to contribute to RSV-induced disease. We hypothesize that severe RSV infection in infants is mediated by insufficient regulation of the host immune response of regulatory T cells (Tregs) resulting in immunopathology. METHODS: Blood and nasal aspirates from 23 RSV-infected and 17 control infants under 1 y of age were collected. Treg frequencies were determined by flow cytometry from peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Analysis of 24 cytokines was measured by multiplex assay on nasal aspirates. RESULTS: We demonstrate that the frequency of activated Tregs is significantly reduced in the peripheral blood of RSV-infected infants compared with age-matched controls. Surprisingly, T helper (Th)17 related cytokines including interleukin (IL)-1ß, IL-17A, and IL-23 were associated with a reduction in clinical symptoms of respiratory distress. In addition, the amount of IL-33 protein in nasal washes, a cytokine important in maintaining Treg homeostasis in mucosal tissues, was decreased in RSV-infected children. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that decreased Treg numbers and an inability to properly control the host inflammatory response results in severe RSV infection.

Extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation in a patient with Fusobacterium sepsis: a case report and review of literature.

An adolescent female was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit in septic shock. She developed multisystem organ dysfunction including pancreatitis with myocardial dysfunction and hemodynamic instability unresponsive to medical management necessitating veno-arterial extracorporeal support. Streptococcus Constellata and Fusobacterium necrophorum were isolated from blood cultures. This is the first report of extra-corporeal cardiac support in fusobacterium sepsis.

Effects of airway pressure release ventilation on blood pressure and urine output in children.

OBJECTIVE: Increased intrathoracic pressures during airway pressure release ventilation (APRV) may compromise systemic venous return resulting in decreased cardiac output and renal perfusion. We sought to study the short-term effect of APRV on blood pressure (BP) and urine output (UO) in children with acute lung injury (ALI) or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. PATIENTS: All patients with ALI/ARDS who were admitted to our Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) between 1/00 and 06/04, and who were ventilated with APRV (for at least 12 hr) for worsening oxygenation while on conventional ventilation (CV). MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Medical records were reviewed for patients' demographics, Pediatric Risk of Mortality (PRISM III) score, admitting diagnosis, ventilator settings, gas exchange data, heart rate (HR), central venous pressure (CVP), blood pressure (BP), UO, and use of other therapies [sedatives, pressors, inotropes, and intravenous fluid (IVF)]. Eleven patients met our inclusion and exclusion criteria with a mean age of 6.2 +/- 4.8 years (range: 1-15 years), a weight of 35.5 +/- 29.5 kg (range: 12-90 kg), and a PRISM score of 18.4 +/- 9.6 (range: 2-36). Within 10 hrs of APRV, patients' mean airway pressure (Paw) increased from 16.1 +/- 6.6 to 21.1 +/- 5.5 cm of H(2)O (P = 0.04). Despite a higher Paw there were no differences in HR, CVP, BP, UO, IVF and use of other therapies while on CV or APRV (P > 0.10). CONCLUSION: In children with ALI/ARDS, despite a higher Paw, APRV does not affect BP or UO.