Are Children's Hospitals Doing Enough to Address the Climate Crisis?

INTRODUCTION: The warming of our planet matters to the health, well-being, and future of every child. 1 Due to the nature of infants' and children's biological systems and cognitive immaturity, they are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change and air pollution. 1,2 The U.S. healthcare sector itself contributes to the problem and accounts for 8.5% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe). 3 These emissions come directly from hospital operations, indirectly from purchased energy, and the largest category, termed scope 3 emissions, includes purchased goods and services, employee commuting, and waste management. 4 Reducing GHGe can also improve hospitals' operating efficiency and promote healthcare resiliency. 1.

Development and implementation of a pre-tracheostomy multidisciplinary conference: An initiative to improve patient selection.

OBJECTIVE: To describe our institutional experience in implementing a pre-tracheostomy multidisciplinary conference and assess its effects on patient selection and communication between team members and with families. METHODS: Descriptive study and retrospective review of patient outcomes in a period prior to (4/2016-1/2018) and following (2/2018-11/2019) implementation of the conference and conference participant survey. RESULTS: In the 21 months prior to the conference, 53 patients out of 67 consults (79%) went on to have a tracheostomy. After implementation, 96 patients, 42 females and 54 males, between 2 weeks and 22 years of age were discussed. 58 (60%) of patients referred for tracheostomy ultimately underwent surgery. Of those managed without tracheostomy, 16% were extubated, 11% were managed with noninvasive respiratory support, and 13% of families chose to redirect care. There was no difference in time between consultation and surgery (p = 0.9), or post-surgical length of stay after the conference was implemented (p = 0.9). Survey responses were gathered from 34 conference participants. Respondents agreed that the conference was useful in facilitating communication among the care team (91%), promoting understanding of the patient's treatment options (85%), promoting understanding about long-term outcomes and progression of underlying disease process (79%), clarifying risks, benefits, and alternatives of treatment options (82%), and informing discussions with the family (70%). DISCUSSION: Potential benefits of a multidisciplinary pre-tracheostomy conference include improved provider communication and shared decision making between the medical team and family. We found a reduction in the proportion of patients who ultimately underwent tracheostomy as a result of a formal multidisciplinary discussion, but did not find either any delays in care, or reduction in post-operative length of stay. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: A multidisciplinary team approach to patient selection can foster communication between team members, identify barriers to discharge and quality care at home, and provide caregivers with information necessary to make an informed decision about their child's care.

Palliative care, resuscitation status, and end-of-life considerations in pediatric anesthesia.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To familiarize pediatric anesthesiologists with primary palliative care procedural communication skills and recommendations for discussions involving complex medical decision-making or advance care planning, such as discussions about resuscitation status. RECENT FINDINGS: Recent publications highlight the benefits of pediatric palliative care (PPC) for seriously ill patients and their families, and how PPC principles might be applied to perioperative communication and decision-making. Both prospective and retrospective reports reveal improved quality of life, symptom management, and avoidance of unnecessary interventions when PPC is introduced early for a child with serious illness. SUMMARY: Pediatric anesthesiologists will, at some point, care for a child with serious illness who would benefit from PPC. It is important that all members of the perioperative care team are familiar with primary PPC procedural communication skills and models for approaching discussions about goals of care, shared decision-making, and advance care planning. Pediatric anesthesiologists should be incorporated as early as possible in team discussions about potential procedures requiring sedation for seriously ill children.

Attempting to Define Clinical Productivity Metrics among Pediatric Palliative Care Services at Academic Children's Hospitals.

Introduction: Pediatric palliative care (PPC) programs have grown in size and number at academic children's hospitals in the United States for the past 20 years. Little is known about the relationships between program workforce staffing, billing and coding practices, clinical service requirements for billing providers, and sustainability of program models for billing providers. Methods: The authors contacted a convenience sample of 10 PPC program leaders at academic children's hospitals in the United States. Program leaders were asked to provide information about billing provider full-time equivalent (FTE) staffing, billing and coding practices, and productivity metrics for a three-month period, from January 1 to March 31, 2017. Results: Ten programs participated in the convenience sample survey, and seven provided information about billing and coding practices. For the seven programs that provided evaluation and management data, calculated estimate of mean work Relative Value Unit (wRVU) production per 1.0 FTE per year was 1626. Calculated estimate of consultations per 1.0 FTE per month was 15. Calculated estimate of total clinical encounters per 1.0 FTE per month was 70. Conclusions: The relationships between PPC billing provider productivity and clinical workload are complex and vary widely among a convenience sample of academic PPC programs. Given the high burnout rates in the field, efforts should be made to more clearly define these relationships to promote sustainability of both billing and nonbilling PPC providers.

Optically Activated Delayed Fluorescence through Control of Cyanine Dye Photophysics.

Merocyanine 540 fluorescence can be enhanced by optically depopulating dark photoisomer states to regenerate the fluorescence-generating manifold of the all-trans isomer. Here, we utilize a competing modulation route, long-wavelength coexcitation of the trans triplet population to not only modulate fluorescence through enhanced ground-state recovery but also generate optically activated delayed fluorescence (OADF) with longer-wavelength co-illumination. Such OADF (∼580 nm) is directly observed with pulsed fluorescence excitation at 532 nm, followed by long-wavelength (637 nm) continuous wave depopulation of the photogenerated triplet by repopulating the emissive S1 state. Such reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) results in ns-lived fluorescence delayed by several microseconds after the initial primary excitation pulse and the prompt 1 ns-lived fluorescence that it induces. The dark state from which OADF is generated decays more rapidly with increased secondary laser intensity, as the optically induced RISC rate increases. This first OADF from organic dyes is observed, as the red secondary laser excites ∼580 nm, <1 ns-lived fluorescence from the previously optically prepared ∼1 µs-lived triplet state. This sequential two-photon, repumped fluorescence yields background-free collection with potential for new high-sensitivity fluorescence imaging schemes.

Going straight to the source: A pilot study of bereaved parent-facilitated communication training for pediatric subspecialty fellows.

BACKGROUND: Medical trainees consistently report suboptimal instruction and poor self-confidence in communication skills. Despite this deficit, few established training programs provide comprehensive, pediatric-specific communication education, particularly in the provision of "bad news." To our knowledge, no programs currently use bereaved parent educators to facilitate communication training for pediatric subspecialty trainees. PROCEDURE: The authors designed and implemented a pilot communication training seminar in which bereaved parent educators and faculty facilitators led small groups in interactive, role-play scenarios. Surveys incorporating a retrospective preprogram assessment item to account for response-shift bias were used to assess short- and long-term changes in trainee comfort with delivering "bad news." RESULTS: Fifteen pediatric fellowship trainees participated in the communication seminar; complete data were available for 12 participants. After accounting for response-shift bias, participants reported significant improvement in overall preparedness, breaking bad news to a patient and family, and including the adolescent or young adult patient in conversations. Additionally, participants reported a significant improvement in their ability to address a patient and family's need for information, emotional suffering at the end of life (EOL), if and when a patient should be included in the conversation, and EOL care decisions. The participant's self-perceived improvement in comfort and preparedness persisted over time. CONCLUSIONS: Communication training for pediatric subspecialty trainees using bereaved parent educators is feasible and effective. Both medical trainee and bereaved parent participants benefited from involvement in this pilot study. Further iterations of this training will be modified to assess objective measures of improvement in trainees' communication skills.

Methadone prolongs cardiac conduction in young patients with cancer-related pain.

OBJECTIVE: Methadone prolongs cardiac conduction, from mild corrected QT (QTc) prolongation to torsades de pointes and ventricular fibrillation, in adults. However, methadone use for pain and its effects on cardiac conduction have not been investigated in pediatric populations. METHODS: A retrospective review of QTc intervals in patients receiving methadone analgesia was conducted. Medical records from a 4-year period (September 2006 to October 2010) at a pediatric oncology institution were reviewed, and correlations were tested between cardiac conduction and methadone dosage and duration of therapy, electrolyte levels, renal and hepatic dysfunction, and concurrent medications. RESULTS: Of the 61 patients who received methadone, 37 met our inclusion criteria and underwent 137 electrocardiograms (ECGs). During methadone treatment, the mean QTc was longer than that at baseline (446.5 vs 437.55 ms). The mean methadone dose was 27.0±24.3 mg/d (range, 5-125 mg/d; median, 20 mg/d) or 0.47±0.45 mg/kg per day (range, 0.05-2.25 mg/kg per day; median, 0.37 mg/kg per day), and the mean duration of therapy was 49 days. The authors identified a correlation between automated and manual ECG readings by two cardiologists (Pearson r=0.649; p<0.0001), but the authors found no correlations between methadone dose or duration and concurrent QTc-prolonging medications, sex, age, electrolyte abnormalities, or renal or hepatic dysfunction. CONCLUSION: At a clinically effective analgesic dose, methadone dosage and duration were not correlated with QTc prolongation, even in the presence of other risk factors, suggesting that methadone use may be safe in pediatric populations. The correlation between automated and manual ECG readings suggests that automated ECG readings are reliable for monitoring cardiac conductivity during the reported methadone-dosage regimens.

Tailoring cyanine dark states for improved optically modulated fluorescence recovery.

Cyanine dyes are well-known for their bright fluorescence and utility in biological imaging. However, cyanines also readily photoisomerize to produce nonemissive dark states. Co-illumination with a secondary, red-shifted light source on-resonance with the longer wavelength absorbing dark state reverses the photoisomerization and returns the cyanine dye to the fluorescent manifold, increasing steady-state fluorescence intensity. Modulation of this secondary light source dynamically alters emission intensity, drastically improving detection sensitivity and facilitating fluorescence signals to be recovered from an otherwise overwhelming background. Red and near-IR emitting cyanine derivatives have been synthesized with varying alkyl chain lengths and halogen substituents to alter dual-laser fluorescence enhancement. Photophysical properties and enhancement with dual laser modulation were coupled with density functional calculations to characterize substituent effects on dark state photophysics, potentially improving detection in high background biological environments.

Umbelopsis dimorpha sp. nov., a link between U. vinacea and U. versiformis.

The new species Umbelopsis dimorpha sp. nov. was isolated from a soil sample in the Red Hills area of Mt Richmond Forest Park, in the northern part of the South Island of New Zealand. It has two kinds of pale pinkish sporangia: (1) single-spored, indistinguishable from those of U. versiformis; and (2) multi-spored, similar to those of U. vinacea. ITS sequences place the species in the immediate vicinity of the former species.