Problem-solving processes for central venous catheter occlusion within pediatric cancer care: A qualitative study.

PURPOSE: Central venous access devices play a crucial role in healthcare settings. However, there is concern regarding the high incidence of blockages occurring before the completion of treatments and existing guidelines for occlusion management are not consistently followed. To explore the decision-making and problem-solving process of occlusion management and identify enablers and barriers to implementing evidence for occlusion management in pediatric cancer care. METHODS: A qualitative design with individual semi-structured interviews. Participants were selected by purposeful sampling from a tertiary-referral pediatric facility, and semi-structured interviews were conducted. RESULTS: A total of 13 clinicians and 5 parents were interviewed. The thematic analysis revealed four main decision-making/problem-solving themes: 1) clinical reasoning and judgement for central venous access devices occlusion, 2) capability in central venous access devices occlusion management, 3) colleague collaboration in the escalation process and 4) lack of adequate support to manage the occlusion. This study identified positive and negative influences on the problem-solving process, including clinicians' psychological capabilities, social and physical resources, and beliefs about consequences. CONCLUSION: This study found that clinicians in pediatric cancer care were able to manage central venous access device occlusions using clinical reasoning and judgment skills, which may conflict with evidence-based practices. The study confirmed the importance of a team approach and prior experience in managing central venous access devices in pediatric oncology settings and identified potential conflicts between clinician decisions based on the patient's current and anticipated conditions and implementation of evidence-based practice. Improving documentation and providing visual aids could benefit clinicians' problem-solving processes.

Feasibility of Weekly Electronic Patient- and Proxy-Reported Outcome Measures in Pediatric Oncology.

BACKGROUND: Electronic patient-reported outcome measures (ePROMs) benefit adult cancer care, but their use in pediatric cancer care is limited. OBJECTIVES: To explore the feasibility of collecting weekly ePROMs from pediatric cancer patients and/or their caregivers and to describe children's levels of symptom burden, distress, and cancer-related quality of life. METHODS: A prospective and longitudinal cohort study was undertaken at one tertiary children's cancer center. Children (2-18 years)/caregivers completed ePROMs with validated measures for distress, symptom burden, and cancer-related quality of life weekly for 8 weeks. RESULTS: Seventy children/caregivers participated in the study, and 69% completed ePROMs at all 8 weeks. Distress and cancer-related quality of life significantly improved over time. However, at week 8, almost half of the participants still reported high levels of distress. Symptom burden decreased over time, with the youngest and the oldest age groups (2-3 and 13-18 years) reporting the highest number of symptoms with severe burden. CONCLUSIONS: Weekly collection of ePROMs in pediatric cancer care is feasible. Although distress, quality of life, and symptom burden improve over time, there is a need for timely assessment and interventions to improve symptoms, high levels of distress, and issues that negatively affect quality of life. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Nurses are ideally placed to intervene, assess, and monitor symptoms and to provide symptom management advice to pediatric cancer patients and caregivers. Findings from this study may inform the design of models of pediatric cancer care to improve communication with the healthcare team and patient experience of care.

Care at Your Fingertips: Codesign, Development, and Evaluation of the Oncology Hub App for Remote Symptom Management in Pediatric Oncology.

PURPOSE: To codesign, develop, and evaluate a smartphone app that includes patient-reported measures of symptoms and real-time advice in children's cancer. METHODS: The Oncology Hub is a comprehensive approach to symptom management that includes a suite of codesigned tools and resources including clinical algorithms to determine the level of concern, symptom management advice, and resources for families of children with cancer. The evaluation involved Think Aloud interviews with parent and adolescent patients to complete tasks in the app as well as a User Experience questionnaire (score range, 0-120) and qualitative feedback. The accuracy of algorithms was determined by repeated testing of inputs and outputs over 4 weeks. RESULTS: Design and wireframes were iteratively refined through consultation with parents and adolescents confirming the final design. Beta testing evaluation was then completed by 25 participants including two adolescents. Across all participants, 84% of tasks were easy to navigate, and the Oncology Hub demonstrated high usability, usefulness, and acceptability with participants' scores ranging between 90 and 120 (mean = 112.2, standard deviation = 9.43). Qualitative feedback was positive. Testing of algorithms identified inconsistencies in understanding between clinical research and coding teams; refinements were made until the expected response notifications were returned with 100% accuracy. CONCLUSION: Technology offers new ways to think about how clinicians and families communicate and share information to harness the best of community and hospital services. Understanding how information is exchanged using health apps, and how this affects clinical workflow is critical to successful implementation, and optimizing symptom assessment and management in children with cancer.

Documentation of Symptoms in Children Newly Diagnosed With Cancer Highlights the Need for Routine Assessment Using Self-report.

BACKGROUND: Symptom management is a cornerstone of quality care and has the potential to vastly influence patient experiences. The supportive care needs of children, however, are not well described. OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to describe documentation about assessment and occurrence of symptoms in medical records of children with cancer and to compare the profile of documented symptoms with child self-report. METHODS: Twelve weeks of medical records of children (8-18 years) newly diagnosed with cancer were reviewed, and data were extracted regarding symptom assessment and occurrence. A second cohort of children attending oncology outpatients completed the electronic Symptom Screening in Pediatrics self-report of symptom bother. They also answered additional questions about other symptoms and the experience of self-report. We evaluated the profile of symptoms recorded as assessed by healthcare providers and self-reported by children. RESULTS: One thousand three hundred sixteen symptoms were identified in 3642 assessments. The symptoms most commonly documented by medical and nursing staff were nausea, pain, and appetite. Allied health staff most frequently documented fatigue, feeling scared, or sad. Forty-eight children completed self-report for the same symptoms and identified fatigue, appetite, and taste were the most bothersome. Children were positive about the experience of completing self-report. CONCLUSION: This study adds further to the evidence about the importance of obtaining information beyond routine clinical assessment from children themselves. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Healthcare providers do not routinely identify all distressing symptoms during clinical encounters. Use of patient-reported outcome measures in children is feasible and acceptable and empowers children to communicate about symptoms, which can facilitate prompt intervention.

Optimising symptom management in children with cancer using a novel mobile phone application: protocol for a controlled hybrid effectiveness implementation trial (RESPONSE).

BACKGROUND: Intense and aggressive treatment regimens for most children's cancer have achieved vast improvements in survival but are also responsible for both a high number and burden of symptoms. The use of Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) demonstrates a range of benefits for improved symptom management in adults with cancer. There are, however, multiple barriers to integrating PROMs into routine care in children and adolescents with cancer. This study aims to evaluate: (1) the effectiveness of electronic PROMs to generate stratified alerts, symptom management recommendations and graphical summaries (the RESPONSE system) to improve health outcomes and (2) the implementation of the RESPONSE system by assessing feasibility, acceptability, satisfaction, and sustainability. METHODS: A pragmatic hybrid II effectiveness-implementation controlled trial, using mixed methods, will be undertaken, advancing both knowledge of the effectiveness of the intervention and implementation factors. One-hundred and sixty children with cancer receiving active treatment will be recruited 1:1 to a non-randomised study involving two groups with an equal number of participants in each group. The intervention group (n = 80) will be prospectively recruited to receive the RESPONSE system intervention over eight weeks, versus the historical matched control group (n = 80) who will complete the ePROMs without access to the RESPONSE system. The primary outcome of the effectiveness trial is change between groups in total symptom burden. Secondary outcomes include child health-related quality-of-life and implementation outcomes. Trial data will be analysed using linear mixed-effects models. Formative implementation evaluation is informed by CFIR and ERIC frameworks and implementation outcomes will be mapped to the RE-AIM framework and include interviews, field notes, as well as administrative data to evaluate feasibility, acceptability, satisfaction and sustainability. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ACTRN12621001084875 . Retrospectively Registered 16 August 2021.

Recruitment principles and strategies for supportive care research in pediatric oncology.

BACKGROUND: Variations in clinical practice contribute to negative outcomes for children with cancer. Research in this area is imperative to standardise practice, yet such research is challenging to undertake, and a significant proportion of studies fail. A common reason for failure is poor recruitment, yet little information is available to support researchers and clinicians planning such research. METHODS: Our primary aim was to describe the recruitment strategies and outcomes in a tertiary children's hospital across multiple observational supportive care studies. Secondary aims were to establish principles to improve both recruitment strategies and the reporting of recruitment. We undertook a retrospective descriptive analysis of the recruitment logs and data from three studies in pediatric oncology. The mean time to recruit one participant was calculated. Common reasons for not approaching eligible participants and reasons potential participants declined are described. RESULTS: Of the 235 potential candidates across all studies, 186 (79%) were approached and of these 125 (67%) provided consent, with 117 (63%) completing baseline measures. We estimated recruitment per participant required an average 98 min of experienced research nurse time. Four factors are described that influence recruitment and six principles are outlined to maximise recruitment and the generalisability of research findings. CONCLUSIONS: We highlight the recruitment experiences across three different projects in children's cancer supportive care research and provide a roadmap for other researchers planning to undertake clinical research in pediatrics.

Prevention of occlusion of cEnTral lInes for children with cancer: An implementation study.

AIM: Central venous access devices (CVADs) are vital medical devices to support the treatment of paediatric cancer; however, device occlusion is common, which disrupts treatment. This study aimed to improve the identification and management of CVAD occlusions in children with cancer, as well as to identify the demographic, clinical and device characteristics associated with increased risk for CVAD occlusion. METHODS: A pre-post-implementation study was conducted at a metropolitan paediatric oncology facility in Australia, using the Theoretical Domains Framework. Patients with a CVAD for anti-cancer therapy were prospectively followed for occlusive events pre- and post- the implementation of clinical resources to support the identification and management of CVAD occlusive events. CVAD occlusion and management data were collected and compared pre- and post-implementation. Risk factors for CVAD occlusion were described by mixed-effects Poisson regression and incident rate ratios (IRR). RESULTS: A total of 133 CVADs were inserted into 131 patients for a total of 6784 catheter days. The incidence of CVAD-related occlusion pre-implementation was 59.7 (95% confidence interval (CI) 51.4-69.0, per 1000 catheter days); compared to 31.6 (95% CI 26.4-37.6); P < 0.01) post-implementation of clinical resources. In multivariate models, other than post-implementation phases (IRR 0.51 (95% CI 0.32-0.81)), only neutropaenia significantly increased the risk of CVAD occlusion (IRR 2.14 (95% CI 1.15-3.97)). CONCLUSION: CVAD occlusions in paediatric oncology are common. The development and implementation of CVAD occlusion resources to guide the identification and management of occlusive episodes led to a significant decrease in occlusive events.