Experience with the use of the DIALOG+ intervention in patients with severe mental illness in outpatient services in Colombia.

INTRODUCTION: Severe mental disorders can cause significant and lasting distress for patients and their families and generate high costs through the need for care and loss of productivity. This study tests DIALOG+, an app-based intervention to make routine patient-clinician meetings therapeutically effective. It combines a structured evaluation of patient satisfaction with a solution-focused approach. METHODS: We conducted a qualitative study, based on a controlled clinical trial, in which 9 psychiatrists and 18 patients used DIALOG+ monthly over a six-month period. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the experiences of participants and analysed in an inductive thematic analysis focusing on the feasibility and effects of the intervention in the Colombian context. RESULTS: Experiences were grouped into five overall themes: a) impact of the intervention on the consultation and the doctor-patient relationship; b) impact on patients and in promoting change; c) use of the supporting app, and d) adaptability of the intervention to the Colombian healthcare system. CONCLUSIONS: DIALOG+ was positively valued by most of the participants. Participants felt that it was beneficial to the routine consultation, improved communication and empowered patients to take a leading role in their care. More work is required to identify the patient groups that most benefit from DIALOG+, and to adjust it, particularly to fit brief consultation times, so that it can be rolled out successfully in the Colombian healthcare system.

Continuity of care for children with anorexia nervosa in the Netherlands: a modular perspective.

Care provision for children with anorexia nervosa is provided by outpatient care teams in hospitals, but the way these teams are organized differs per hospital and hampers the continuity of care. The aim of this study is to explore the organization and continuity of care for children with anorexia nervosa in the Netherlands by using a modular perspective.We conducted a qualitative, exploratory case study and took the healthcare provision for children with anorexia nervosa, provided by outpatient care teams, as our case. We conducted nine interviews with healthcare professionals involved in outpatient care teams from six hospitals. A thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.The modular perspective offered insights into the work practices and working methods of outpatient care teams. We were able to identify modules (i.e. the separate consultations with the various professionals), and components (i.e. elements of these consultations). In addition, communication mechanisms (interfaces) were identified to facilitate information flow and coordination among healthcare professionals. Our modular perspective revealed gaps and overlap in outpatient care provision, consequently providing opportunities to deal with unnecessary duplications and blind spots.   Conclusion: A modular perspective can be applied to explore the organization of outpatient care provision for children with anorexia nervosa. We specifically highlight gaps and overlap in healthcare provision, which in turn leads to recommendations on how to support the three essential parts of continuity of care: informational continuity, relational continuity, and management continuity. What is Known: • Care provision for children with anorexia nervosa requires a network of health care professionals from different organizations, as a result the organization and provision of care faces challenges. What is New: • Modular care provision sheds light on the complexity and organization of outpatient care provision and supports the three dimensions of continuity of care as experienced by children with anorexia nervosa and their parents/caregivers.

Evaluation of pharmacist-led transition of care program in patients with acute coronary syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Guideline-directed medical therapies (GDMTs), initiated in-hospital and continued during the transition to outpatient care, are paramount to successful outcomes for patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Incomplete discharge medication prescribing and delayed follow-up lead to worse cardiovascular outcomes. OBJECTIVES: We investigated a system of care using inpatient and outpatient clinical pharmacists to close GDMT gaps, ensure seamless transition to outpatient care, improve patient education, and optimize therapies. METHODS: We conducted a pre-post cohort analysis of patients with ACS pre- versus post-intervention to compare process metrics and key outcomes using electronic health record data. RESULTS: There were 181 and 135 patients in the pre- and post-intervention cohorts, respectively. Patients post-intervention were significantly more likely to have appropriately-timed follow-up visits scheduled with cardiology (79% vs. 51%, P < 0.0001) and primary care (57% vs. 43%, P = 0.01), to be discharged with prescriptions for P2Y12 inhibitors (87% vs. 64%, P < 0.0001), high dose statins (86% vs. 70%, P = 0.001), and beta blockers (87% vs. 76%, P = 0.01), and significantly less likely to have 30-day all-cause hospital readmissions (4% vs. 12%, P = 0.02) and emergency department (ED) visits (10% vs. 18%, P = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: The integration of advanced practicing pharmacists into a cardiology team at transition and post-hospitalization resulted in improved rates of posthospital follow-up visits, optimization of GDMT medications, and significantly lower 30-day hospital readmission and ED utilization.

Virtual urgent care is here to stay: driving toward safe, equitable, and sustainable integration within emergency medicine.

BACKGROUND: Virtual care in Canada rapidly expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic in a low-rules environment in response to pressing needs for ongoing access to care amid public health restrictions. Emergency medicine specialists now face the challenge of advising on which virtual urgent care services ought to remain as part of comprehensive emergency care. Consideration must be given to safe, quality, and appropriate care as well as issues of equitable access, public demand, and sustainability (financial and otherwise). The aim of this project was to summarize current literature and expert opinion and formulate recommendations on the path forward for virtual care in emergency medicine. METHODS: We formed a working group of emergency medicine physicians from across Canada working in a variety of practice settings. The virtual care working group conducted a scoping review of the literature and met monthly to discuss themes and develop recommendations. The final recommendations were circulated to stakeholders for input and subsequently presented at the 2023 Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) Academic Symposium for discussion, feedback, and refinement. RESULTS: The working group developed and reached unanimity on nine recommendations addressing the themes of system design, equity and accessibility, quality and patient safety, education and curriculum, financial models, and sustainability of virtual urgent care services in Canada. CONCLUSION: Virtual urgent care has become an established service in the Canadian health care system. Emergency medicine specialists are uniquely suited to provide leadership and guidance on the optimal delivery of these services to enhance and complement emergency care in Canada.

RéSUMé: CONTEXTE: Les soins virtuels au Canada ont rapidement pris de l'ampleur pendant la pandémie de COVID-19 dans un environnement où les règles sont peu strictes, en réponse aux besoins urgents d'accès continu aux soins dans un contexte de restrictions en santé publique. Les spécialistes de la médecine d'urgence sont maintenant confrontés au défi de conseiller sur les services de soins d'urgence virtuels qui devraient rester dans le cadre des soins d'urgence complets. Il faut tenir compte des soins sécuritaires, de qualité et appropriés, ainsi que des questions d'accès équitable, de la demande publique et de la durabilité (financière et autre). L'objectif de ce projet était de résumer la littérature actuelle et l'opinion d'experts et de formuler des recommandations sur la voie à suivre pour les soins virtuels en médecine d'urgence. MéTHODES: Nous avons formé un groupe de travail composé de médecins urgentistes de partout au Canada qui travaillent dans divers milieux de pratique. Le groupe de travail sur les soins virtuels a effectué un examen de la portée de la documentation et s'est réuni chaque mois pour discuter des thèmes et formuler des recommandations. Les recommandations finales ont été distribuées aux intervenants pour obtenir leurs commentaires, puis présentées au symposium universitaire 2023 de l'Association canadienne des médecins d'urgence (ACMU) pour discussion, rétroaction et perfectionnement. RéSULTATS: Le groupe de travail a élaboré et atteint l'unanimité sur neuf recommandations portant sur les thèmes de la conception du système, de l'équité et de l'accessibilité, de la qualité et de la sécurité des patients, de l'éducation et des programmes, des modèles financiers et de la viabilité des services virtuels de soins d'urgence au Canada. CONCLUSION : Les soins d'urgence virtuels sont devenus un service établi dans le système de santé canadien. Les spécialistes en médecine d'urgence sont particulièrement bien placés pour fournir un leadership et des conseils sur la prestation optimale de ces services afin d'améliorer et de compléter les soins d'urgence au Canada.

Telemedicine Plus Standard Care Versus Standard Care Only in Specialized Outpatient Palliative Care: A Randomized Controlled Noninferiority Trial.

Background: Patients suffering from incurable diseases are more likely to die in the hospital than at home. Specialized outpatient palliative care (PC) may be able to counteract this tendency. Similarly, potential benefits of telemedicine in health care were scientifically reported. The aim of this research was to compare patients receiving specialized outpatient PC plus telemedicine with those receiving standard specialized outpatient PC only. In this study, telemedicine is assumed to decrease the number of home visits and therefore should not be considered a mere add-on. Methods: This is a randomized controlled noninferiority trial. Recruitment lasted between January 2020 and October 2021. Quality of care was evaluated using the Integrated Palliative Care Outcome Scale (IPOS) at day 0, 7, and 14 after randomization. Change from day 0 to 7 was defined as the primary outcome (noninferiority margin = 4 points). This study was conducted in an urban setting in collaboration with a university hospital and a local specialized outpatient PC service. Results: A total of 196 patients were screened with 34 patients included (18 telemedicine/16 standard care). The mean change in the total score of the IPOS from day 0 to 7 amounted to -1.8 ± 3.9 (telemedicine) versus 1.2 ± 5.7 (standard care). The telemedicine group was statistically not relevantly inferior to the standard care group (t-test for noninferiority, p = 0.005). Conclusions: Although, due to COVID-19, the sample size remained rather small, our findings indicate that telemedical approaches offer a promising and equally effective option to provide specialized outpatient PC. Clinical Trial Registration Number: NCT06054048.

Transition of care interventions to manage severe COVID-19 in the ambulatory setting: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Severe COVID-19, with the need in supplemental oxygen and hospitalization, leads to major burden on patients and healthcare systems. As a result, safe and effective ambulatory treatment strategies for severe COVID-19 are of urgent need. In this systematic review, we aimed to evaluate interventions to transition care to the ambulatory setting for patients with active severe COVID-19 that required supplemental oxygen. METHODS: We searched Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, and DOAJ databases to identify articles with original data published until the 1st of April 2023. Characteristics and outcomes of interventions to transition care to home management were reviewed. Given the heterogeneous settings and outcomes studied, a meta-analysis was not performed. RESULTS: Of the 235 studies identified, 11 observational studies, with 2645 patients, were included. The interventions were initiated from the emergency department, observation units or inpatient units, and included continuous home telemonitoring (n = 8), mobile applications (n = 2), and patient-initiated medical contact (n = 3). Included patients had an overall short length of hospital stay, high readmission rates, and positive patients' feedback. There was a lack of prospective controlled data and cost-effectiveness analyses. CONCLUSION: Our findings highlight the potential in treating severe COVID-19 at the ambulatory setting and the lack of high-quality data in this field. Dedicated medical teams, adjusted monitoring methods, improving clinical trajectory, and correct inclusion settings are needed for safe and effective transition of care.

Atendimento odontológico de pacientes com necessidades especiais na atenção secundária em um estado do nordeste do Brasil / Dental care of special needs patients in secondary care in a northeastern state of Brazil / Atención odontológica a pacientes con necesidades especiales en la atención secundaria en un estado del nordeste de Brasil

O objetivo desse estudo foi descrever a produção dos atendimentos oferecidos aos pacientes com necessidades especiais nos Centros de Especialidades Odontológicas (CEO) da Paraíba (Brasil) e sua relação com o cumprimento das metas de produtividade, entre o período de 2019 e 2022. Trata-se de um estudo descritivo e ecológico em que foram coletados dados secundários do Sistema de Informações Ambulatoriais do SUS (SIA/SUS), através da captação da produção ambulatorial individualizada (BPA-I), por meio da ferramenta TabWin, dos 98 CEO operantes na Paraíba. Realizou-se análise descritiva e analítica, por meio dos testes Qui-Quadrado de Pearson e Exato de Fisher entre a variável dependente "alcance da meta" e a variável independente "adesão à Rede de Cuidados à Pessoa com Deficiência (RCPD)". Em todos os anos, a porcentagem de CEO cumpridores da meta (15,3% em 2019; 1% em 2020; 12,2% em 2021; e 11,2% em 2022) foi substancialmente menor que os números expressados por aqueles que não alcançaram a produção mínima. Os resultados também apontaram maior realização de procedimentos restauradores (29,6% em 2019; 28,6% em 2020; 32,7% em 2021; e 37,8% em 2022) em detrimento aos periodontais, cirúrgicos e preventivos. No que concerne a estar aderido à RCPD, no ano de 2022, 90,9% dos CEO que alcançaram a meta estavam aderidos à Rede (p<0,05). Concluiu-se que uma baixa frequência de CEO alcançou o cumprimento da meta de produtividade da especialidade de Odontologia para Pacientes com Necessidades Especiais nos CEO. No entanto, a adesão à RCPD manifestou-se como elemento influenciador para aqueles que cumpriram suas metas mensais e anuais.

The objective of this study was to describe the production of care provided to special needs patients in the Dental Specialties Centers (CEO) of Paraíba (Brazil) and its relationship with the achievement of productivity goals, between the period 2019 and 2022. This is a descriptive and ecological study in which secondary data were collected from the SUS Outpatient Information System (SIA/SUS), by capturing the individualized outpatient production (BPA-I), through the TabWin tool, of the 98 operating CEOs in Paraíba. We carried out descriptive and analytical analysis, using Pearson's Chi-square and Fisher's Exact tests between the dependent variable "goal attainment" and the independent variable "adherence to the Care Network for People with Disabilities (RCPD)". In all years, the percentage of CEOs meeting the goal (15.3% in 2019; 1% in 2020; 12.2% in 2021; and 11.2% in 2022) was substantially lower than the numbers expressed by those who did not meet the minimum output. The results also indicated greater performance of restorative procedures (29.6% in 2019; 28.6% in 2020; 32.7% in 2021; and 37.8% in 2022) to the detriment of periodontal, surgical, and preventive procedures. Regarding being adhered to the RCPD, in the year 2022, 90.9% of the CEOs who reached the goal were adhered to the Network (p<0.05). It was concluded that a low frequency of CEOs achieved compliance with the productivity target of the specialty of Dentistry for Special Needs Patients in CEOs. However, adherence to the RCPD manifested itself as an influential element for those who met their monthly and annual goals.

El objetivo de este estudio fue describir la producción de la atención prestada a pacientes con necesidades especiales en los Centros de Especialidades Odontológicas (CEO) de Paraíba (Brasil) y su relación con el alcance de las metas de productividad, entre el período de 2019 y 2022. Se trata de un estudio descriptivo y ecológico en el que se recogieron datos secundarios del Sistema de Información Ambulatoria del SUS (SIA/SUS), mediante la captura de la producción ambulatoria individualizada (BPA-I), a través de la herramienta TabWin, de los 98 CEOs en funcionamiento en Paraíba. Se realizaron análisis descriptivos y analíticos, utilizando las pruebas Chi-cuadrado de Pearson y Exacta de Fisher entre la variable dependiente "cumplimiento de metas" y la variable independiente "adhesión a la Red de Atención a Personas con Discapacidad (RCPD)". En todos los años, el porcentaje de directores generales que cumplieron el objetivo (15,3% en 2019; 1% en 2020; 12,2% en 2021; y 11,2% en 2022) fue sustancialmente inferior a las cifras expresadas por los que no alcanzaron el rendimiento mínimo. Los resultados también indicaron una mayor realización de procedimientos restauradores (29,6% en 2019; 28,6% en 2020; 32,7% en 2021; y 37,8% en 2022) en detrimento de los procedimientos periodontales, quirúrgicos y preventivos. Respecto a estar adherido a la RCPD, en el año 2022, el 90,9% de los CEOs que alcanzaron el objetivo estaban adheridos a la Red (p<0,05). Se concluyó que una baja frecuencia de CEOs alcanzó el cumplimiento de la meta de productividad de la especialidad de Odontología para Pacientes con Necesidades Especiales en CEOs. Sin embargo, la adhesión al RCPD se manifestó como un elemento influyente para aquellos que cumplieron sus objetivos mensuales y anuales.

Dificuldades enfrentadas pelos profissionais de saúde no atendimento de emergências em unidades básicas de saúde no Brasil / Difficulties faced by health professionals in emergency care in primary health care units in Brazil / Dificultades enfrentadas por los profesionales de salud en la atención de emergencias en unidades básicas de salud en Brasil

Objetivos: compreender as dificuldades enfrentadas pelos profissionais de saúde para o atendimento de casos de urgências/emergências em unidades básica de saúde e identificar as proposições de resolubilidade. Métodos: Pesquisa qualitativa, realizada com dez profissionais de saúde, em uma unidade básica de saúde do interior paulista. As entrevistas foram transcritas e analisadas utilizando-se a estratégia metodológica do Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo. Resultados: As dificuldades foram atreladas a fatores como despreparo da equipe, falta de infraestrutura, insumos e equipamentos, carência de profissional médico, pouca aproximação das unidades básicas de saúde com o setor de emergência hospitalar e escasso investimento do município para realização desses atendimentos. As proposições de melhorias destacaram a necessidade de capacitação dos profissionais de saúde, investimentos em recursos materiais e equipamentos, permanência de médico em período integral no serviço, implantação de protocolos de atendimento e empenho dos gestores. Conclusão: Os discursos evidenciaram que o serviço não tem condições de atender casos de urgência/emergência, em virtude do despreparo da equipe e da falta de recursos humanos e materiais. Além disso, não é prioridade do município oferecer condições mínimas para a realização deste atendimento nas unidades básicas de saúde, para que sejam integrantes da rede de atenção de Atenção às Urgências no Sistema Único de Saúde.

Objective: understand the difficulties health professionals face in urgency/emergency care at primary health care units and identify the propositions of problem-solving ability. Methods: Qualitative research, conducted with ten health professionals at a primary health care unit in the interior of São Paulo. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using the methodological strategy of the collective subject discourse. Results: The difficulties were linked to factors such as unpreparedness of the team, lack of infrastructure, supplies and equipment, lack of medical professional, little cooperation between the primary health care units and the hospital emergency sector and scarce investment of the municipality to carry out these services. The proposals for improvements highlighted the need for training of health professionals, investments in material resources and equipment, full-time presence of physician at the service, implementation of care protocols and commitment of managers. Conclusion: The discourse showed that the service is not able to attend urgency/emergency cases, due to the unpreparedness of the team and the lack of human and material resources. In addition, the municipality does not prioritize the supply of minimum conditions for this care in primary health care units to make them part of the emergency care network in the Unified Health System.

Objetivo: comprender las dificultades enfrentadas por los profesionales de salud para la atención de casos de Urgencias/Emergencias en unidades básicas de salud e identificar las proposiciones de resolubilidad. Métodos: Investigación cualitativa, desarrollada con diez profesionales de salud, en una unidad básica de salud del interior paulista. Las entrevistas fueron transcritas y analizadas utilizando la estrategia metodológica del Discurso del Sujeto Colectivo. Resultados: Las dificultades fueron ligadas a factores como la falta de preparación del equipo, falta de infraestructura, insumos y equipamientos, carencia de profesional médico, poca aproximación de las unidades básicas de salud con el sector de emergencia hospitalaria y escasa inversión del municipio para realizar esas atenciones. Las propuestas de mejorías destacaron la necesidad de capacitación de los profesionales de salud, inversiones en recursos materiales y equipamientos, permanencia de médico a tiempo completo en el servicio, implantación de protocolos de atención y empeño de los gestores. Conclusión: Los discursos evidenciaron que el servicio no tiene condiciones de atender casos de urgencia/emergencia, en virtud de la falta de preparación del equipo y de la falta de recursos humanos y materiales. Además, no es prioridad del municipio ofrecer condiciones mínimas para la realización de esta atención en las unidades básicas de salud, para que sean integrantes de la red de atención de atención a las urgencias en el Sistema Único de Salud.

Complex Billing for Nonemergency Outpatient Imaging: An Obstacle to the Success of Health Care Price Transparency Initiatives.

PURPOSE: Recent price transparency initiatives have considerable limitations, notably due to the complexity of health care products. A single care encounter often consists of several services that may be performed by numerous clinicians and health care facilities that bill independently. The objective of this study was to describe the complexity in billing for nonemergency, noninvasive outpatient imaging and its variation across care delivery settings and imaging modalities. METHODS: Using billing records from the 2019 IBM MarketScan Commercial Database, the authors examined the number of billing entities involved in outpatient imaging encounters and the sets of relevant items and services for which patients were billed. RESULTS: In total, 5,210,129 imaging encounters were analyzed. Patients received bills from multiple billing entities for 70.9% of hospital-based encounters, 4.5% of office-based encounters, and 7.6% of encounters at imaging centers. Contrast agent was billed separately from the imaging procedures in 55.9%, 71.5%, and 55.3% of encounters for contrast imaging at hospitals, offices, and imaging centers, respectively. Billing for other ancillary items and services (facility fees, 3-D reconstruction, anesthesia and sedation) was relatively rare. CONCLUSIONS: Two key aspects of billing complexity may make obtaining complete and reliable price estimates before receiving outpatient imaging difficult for patients: the number of billing entities involved in care delivery and billing for fees and ancillary services beyond the primary imaging procedure. Given that price transparency initiatives are aimed primarily at helping patients anticipate the total cost of their care, policymakers, payers, and providers should take additional steps to provide patients with reliable information on the prices of entire care experiences.

Fragmentation of ambulatory care among older adults: an exhaustive database study in an ageing city in Japan.

OBJECTIVES: Continuity of care is a core dimension of primary care, and better continuity is associated with better patient outcomes. Therefore, care fragmentation can be an indicator to assess the quality of primary care, especially in countries without formal gatekeeping system, such as Japan. Thus, this study aimed to describe care fragmentation among older adults in an ageing city in Japan. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: The most populated basic municipality in Japan. PARTICIPANTS: Older adults aged 75 years and older. INTERVENTIONS: This study used a health claims database, including older adults who visited medical facilities at least four times a year in an urban city in Japan. The Fragmentation of Care Index (FCI) was used as an indicator of fragmentation. The FCI was developed from the Continuity of Care Index and is based on the total number of visits, different institutions visited and proportion of visits to each institution. We employed Tobit regression analysis to examine the association between the FCI and age, sex, type of insurance and most frequently visited facility. RESULTS: The total number of participants was 413 600. The median age of the study population was 81 years, and 41.6% were men. The study population visited an average of 3.42 clinics/hospitals, and the maximum number of visited institutions was 20. The proportion of patients with FCI >0 was 85.0%, with a mean of 0.583. Multivariable analysis showed that patients receiving public assistance had a lower FCI compared with patients not receiving public assistance, with a coefficient of 0.137. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate care fragmentation in Japan. Over 80% of the participants visited two or more medical facilities, and their mean FCI was 0.583. The FCI could be a basic indicator for assessing the quality of primary care.

From Individualized Interactions to Standardized Schedules: A History of Time Organization in U.S. Outpatient Medicine.

Many outpatient physicians and patients feel that current scheduling systems do not afford enough time for direct patient-physician interaction, leaving patients feeling unheard and physicians feeling demoralized. This dissatisfaction degrades patients' trust in the health care system and contributes to workforce moral injury and burnout. In the hopes of understanding the roots of this time stress and helping to guide future decisions about how to organize physicians' time, this article describes changes in the organization of U.S. outpatient physicians' time, starting from care at home in the late 19th century. It discusses the origins of the appointment system, which was invented to be highly personalized, with assistants adjusting appointment durations to accommodate clinical activities, specific patient needs, and individual physician proclivities. The article then describes how centralization of appointment scheduling became more common as U.S. medicine became increasingly consolidated into larger and larger groups and health systems. This distanced schedulers from the people and care they were organizing and necessitated standardized appointment durations, which did not accommodate individual patient and physician needs. With the rise of managerialism, schedulers became increasingly accountable to administrators rather than patients and physicians. Whereas early appointment systems depended on personal connection between schedulers and the physicians and patients they supported, today's schedulers have few such interactions. The widespread shift to centralized scheduling and standardized time slots has contributed to misalignment among time allocation, patient care, and health care workforce well-being and is likely exacerbating ongoing tensions among patients, physicians, and administrators.

Tras el tsunami del COVID-19, ¿de vuelta a la normalidad? / After the COVID-19 tidal wave: Should things go back to normal?

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NHS 111 Clinical Assessment Services: paediatric consultations.

Around the UK, commissioners have different models for delivering NHS 111, General Practice (GP) out-of-hours and urgent care services, focusing on telephony to help deliver urgent and emergency care. During the (early phases of the) COVID-19 pandemic, NHS 111 experienced an unprecedented volume of calls. At any time, 25%-30% of calls relate to children and young people (CYP). In response, the CYP's Transformation and Integrated Urgent Care teams at NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE/I) assisted in redeploying volunteer paediatricians into the integrated urgent care NHS 111 Clinical Assessment Services (CAS), taking calls about CYP. From this work, key stakeholders developed a paediatric 111 consultation framework, as well as learning outcomes, key capabilities and illustrations mapped against the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) Progress curriculum domains, to aid paediatricians in training to undertake NHS 111 activities. These learning outcomes and key capabilities have been endorsed by the RCPCH Curriculum Review Group and are recommended to form part of the integrated urgent care service specification and workforce blueprint to improve outcomes for CYP.

Alcohol use disorder in the COVID-19 era: Position paper of the Italian Society on Alcohol (SIA).

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) first emerged in China in November 2019. Most governments have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by imposing a lockdown. Some evidence suggests that a period of isolation might have led to a spike in alcohol misuse, and in the case of patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD), social isolation can favour lapse and relapse. The aim of our position paper is to provide specialists in the alcohol addiction field, in psychopharmacology, gastroenterology and in internal medicine, with appropriate tools to better manage patients with AUD and COVID-19,considering some important topics: (a) the susceptibility of AUD patients to infection; (b) the pharmacological interaction between medications used to treat AUD and to treat COVID-19; (c) the reorganization of the Centre for Alcohol Addiction Treatment for the management of AUD patients in the COVID-19 era (group activities, telemedicine, outpatients treatment, alcohol-related liver disease and liver transplantation, collecting samples); (d) AUD and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Telemedicine/telehealth will undoubtedly be useful/practical tools even though it remains at an elementary level; the contribution of the family and of caregivers in the management of AUD patients will play a significant role; the multidisciplinary intervention involving experts in the treatment of AUD with specialists in the treatment of COVID-19 disease will need implementation. Thus, the COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly leading addiction specialists towards a new governance scenario of AUD, which necessarily needs an in-depth reconsideration, focusing attention on a safe approach in combination with the efficacy of treatment.

Development and Evaluation of an Integrated Outpatient Infusion Care Model for the Treatment of Pediatric Headache.

BACKGROUND: Care for pediatric patients with headache often occurs in high-cost settings such as emergency departments (EDs) and inpatient settings. Outpatient infusion centers have the potential to reduce care costs for pediatric headache management. METHODS: In this quality improvement study, we describe our experience in creating the capacity to support an integrated outpatient pediatric headache infusion care model through an infusion center. We compare costs of receiving headache treatment in this model with those in the emergency and inpatient settings. Because dihydroergotamine (DHE) is a costly infusion, encounters at which DHE was administered were analyzed separately. We track the number of ED visits and inpatient admissions for headache using run charts. As a balancing measure, we compare treatment efficacy between the infusion care model and the inpatient setting. RESULTS: The mean percentage increase in cost of receiving headache treatment in the inpatient setting with DHE was 61% (confidence interval [CI]: 30-99%), and that without DHE was 582% (CI: 299-1068%) compared with receiving equivalent treatments in the infusion center. The mean percentage increase in cost of receiving headache treatment in the ED was 30% (CI: -15 to 100%) compared with equivalent treatment in the infusion center. After the intervention, ED visits and inpatient admissions for headache decreased. The mean change in head pain was similar across care settings. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate that developing an integrated ambulatory care model with infusion capacity for refractory pediatric headache is feasible, and our early outcomes suggest this may have a favorable impact on the overall value of care for this population.

Reorganização do serviço ambulatorial de referência para condições crônicas durante a pandemia da COVID-19 / Reorganización del servicio de referencia ambulatoria para condiciones crónicas durante la pandemia de COVID-19 / Reorganization of the outpatient reference service for chronic conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic

Resumo Objetivo Relatar a experiência da equipe de saúde da atenção especializada na reorganização do processo de trabalho para a continuidade do cuidado às pessoas com condições crônicas complexas durante a pandemia da covid-19. Métodos Relato de experiência vivenciada em ambulatório do Estado do Paraná entre março e julho de 2020. O serviço ambulatorial em questão adota o Modelo de Atenção às Condições Crônicas para o atendimento de gestantes, crianças, idosos, pessoas com hipertensão arterial, diabetes mellitus e transtornos mentais, estratificadas como condições complexas. Resultados O avanço da pandemia no Brasil implicou a necessidade de planejar a reorganização da atenção ambulatorial especializada, definindo atividades assistenciais presenciais no serviço, atividades itinerantes nos municípios e uso de tecnologias remotas para assistência e matriciamento. Conclusão e Implicações para a prática O rigor no cumprimento das recomendações sanitárias possibilitou a reorganização dos processos de trabalho no serviço, com modificações que permitiram a continuidade do cuidado de pessoas com condições crônicas complexas. O planejamento e o desenvolvimento das modificações no serviço foram fundamentais para manter o acompanhamento e o monitoramento da saúde das pessoas com condições crônicas complexas em meio a pandemia, minimizando as descompensações e, consequentemente, diminuindo a necessidade de essas pessoas utilizarem os serviços de saúde.

Resumen Objetivo Exponer la experiencia del equipo de atención a la salud especializada, en la reorganización del proceso de trabajo para la continuidad de la atención a personas con enfermedades crónicas complejas durante la pandemia de COVID-19. Métodos Informe de experiencia en un centro ambulatorio del estado brasileño de Paraná entre marzo y julio de 2020. El servicio adopta el Modelo de Atención a Condiciones Crónicas para el atendimiento de: gestantes, niños, ancianos, personas con hipertensión arterial, diabetes mellitus y trastornos mentales, estratificado como condiciones complejas. Resultados El avance de la pandemia en Brasil implicó en la necesidad de planificar la reorganización de la atención ambulatoria especializada, al definir acciones de actividades asistenciales presenciales en el servicio, actividades itinerantes en los municipios y el uso de tecnologías remotas para la asistencia y apoyo matricial. Conclusión e implicaciones para la práctica El rigor en el cumplimiento de las recomendaciones sanitarias permitió la reorganización de los procesos de trabajo en el servicio, con cambios que permitieron la continuidad del cuidado de las personas con condiciones crónicas complejas. La planificación y el desarrollo de los cambios en el servicio fueron fundamentales para mantener el acompañamiento y la vigilancia de la salud de personas con condiciones crónicas complejas en medio a la pandemia, minimizando las descompensaciones y, consecuentemente, disminuyendo la necesidad de que estas personas utilicen los servicios de salud.

Abstract Objective To report the experience of the specialized care health team in reorganizing the work process for the continuity of care for people with complex chronic conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Experience report lived in an outpatient clinic in Paraná State between March and July 2020. The outpatient service in question adopts the Chronic Conditions Care Model for pregnant women, children, elderly people, people with hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and mental disorders, stratified as complex conditions. Results The advance of the pandemic in Brazil implied the need to plan the reorganization of specialized ambulatory care, defining face-to-face care activities in the service, itinerant activities in municipalities, and the use of remote care technologies and matrix support. Conclusion and Implications for practice Rigorous compliance with health recommendations allowed the reorganization of work processes in the service with modifications that allowed continuity of care for people with complex chronic conditions. The planning and development of the modifications in the service were fundamental to maintain the follow-up and monitoring of the health of people with complex chronic conditions amid the pandemic, minimizing decompensations and, consequently, reducing the need for these people to use health services.