Family perspectives on provider conversations about housing needs for children with medical complexity.

BACKGROUND: Children with medical complexity (CMC) have unique, and often unmet, housing needs that place them at risk for housing insecurity and poor health outcomes. Yet, little is known about how families with CMC discuss their housing needs with healthcare providers. We sought to understand: (1) how housing is currently discussed between CMC caregivers and healthcare providers, and (2) how CMC caregivers want such conversations to occur. METHODS: From August to November 2020, we conducted semi-structured interviews with parents/guardians of CMC (<26 years old) in Maryland as part of a larger study to understand their housing experience. Four questions on communication with providers about housing were developed a priori and included in this analysis. Qualitative content analysis was applied to interview transcripts. RESULTS: Among 31 completed interviews, most participants were female (90%), lived in single-family homes (68%) and were from a mix of neighbourhood types (urban 19%, suburban 58%, rural 22%). Their children ranged in age from 6 months to 22 years, had a mix of insurance types (public 65%, private 29%, both 6%) and nearly all required medical equipment or technology. Four themes emerged: (1) Current housing conversations are rare and superficial, (2) Ideal housing conversations would result in thoughtful care plans and concrete supports, (3) Frequency and initiation of housing conversations are best tailored to family preferences and (4) Value of housing conversations are limited by lack of provider knowledge and time. CONCLUSIONS: Conversations about housing needs for CMC happen in limited ways with healthcare providers, despite a desire on the part of their caregivers. Such conversations can give meaningful insights into the family's specific housing challenges, allowing providers to appropriately tailor care plans and referrals. Future work is needed to capture provider perspectives, design CMC-specific housing screeners and develop interdisciplinary referral strategies.

PICU Passport: Pilot study of a handheld resident curriculum.

BACKGROUND: To explore the impact of an educational tool designed to streamline resident learning during their pediatric intensive care (PICU) rotations. METHODS: Topics and procedures were chosen for inclusion based on national requirements for pediatric residents. Residents received a PICU Passport at the beginning of their rotations. PICU faculty were provided learning objectives for each topic. Residents and faculty were surveyed before and after starting use of the Passport. RESULTS: Twenty-two residents pre-Passport and 38 residents post-Passport were compared. Residents were more satisfied with their educational experiences (27 % vs. 79 %; P < 0.001), more likely to report faculty targeted teaching towards knowledge gaps (5 % vs. 63 %; P < 0.001) and felt more empowered to ask faculty to discuss specific topics (27 % vs. 76 %; P = 0.002). The median number of teaching sessions increased from 3 to 10 (Z = 4.2; P < 0.001). Most residents (73 %) felt the Passport helped them keep track of their learning and identify gaps in their knowledge. CONCLUSIONS: The PICU Passport helps residents keep track of their learning and identify gaps in their knowledge. Passport use increases resident satisfaction with education during their PICU rotation and empowers residents to ask PICU faculty to address specific knowledge gaps.

iPhone-based Pupillometry: A Novel Approach for Assessing the Pupillary Light Reflex.

SIGNIFICANCE: The response of the pupil to a flash of light, the pupillary light reflex (PLR), is an important measure in optometry and in other fields of medicine that is typically evaluated by qualitative observation. Here we describe a simple, portable, iPhone-based pupillometer that quantifies the PLR in real time. PURPOSES: The purposes of this study were to describe a novel application that records the PLR and to compare its technical capabilities with a laboratory-based infrared (IR) camera system. METHODS: Pupil sizes were measured from 15 visually normal subjects (age, 19 to 65 years) using an IR camera system and the Sensitometer test. This test elicits pupillary constriction using the iPhone flash, records pupil size using the camera, and provides measurements in real time. Simultaneous recordings were obtained with the Sensitometer test and IR camera, and two measures were calculated: (1) dark-adapted steady-state pupil size and (2) minimum pupil size after the flash. The PLR was defined as the difference between these two measures. Pupil size was also recorded during the redilation phase after the flash. Bland-Altman analysis was used to assess the limits of agreement between the two methods. RESULTS: Statistically significant correlations between the IR and Sensitometer test measures were found for the PLR (r = 0.91, P < .001) and redilation size (r = 0.65, P = .03). Bland-Altman analysis indicated a mean PLR difference of 6% between these two methods. The PLR limit of agreement was 14%, indicating that 95% of subjects are expected to have IR and Sensitometer test measurements that differ by 14% or less. Bland-Altman analysis indicated a mean redilation size difference of 1% between the two methods; the limit of agreement was 5%. CONCLUSIONS: There is excellent agreement between pupil responses recorded using the Sensitometer test and IR camera. The Sensitometer test provides a highly promising approach for simple, portable, inexpensive pupillary measurements.

Aortico-left ventricular tunnel and left ventricular non-compaction: a case series.

Aortico-left ventricular tunnel and left ventricular non-compaction are rare congenital cardiac anomalies with varied clinical presentations and sparsely described co-existence in the medical literature. Owing to the limited information about these diagnoses in tandem, we present four cases of aortico-left ventricular tunnel and left ventricular non-compaction from our institution and discuss the clinical presentation, management, and follow-up.

Impact of Bariatric Surgery on Asthma Severity and Medication Use.

INTRODUCTION: Bariatric surgery improves many obesity-related comorbidities, yet the literature remains inconclusive on the impact of bariatric surgery on asthma. Our primary objective was to identify the long-term impact of bariatric surgery on asthma severity and medication use. METHODS: A retrospective review was completed of all patients with a diagnosis of asthma who underwent bariatric surgery over 10 years at a single institution. Primary outcomes were the number of asthma medications prescribed at five time points (preoperative, postoperative < 18 months, 19-36 months, 37-60 months, 60 + months) after bariatric surgery. Secondary outcomes were spirometry results and BMI. RESULTS: There were 260 patients with 84.6% female predominance. There were 168 sleeve gastrectomy patients and 92 Roux-en-Y gastric bypass patients. Mean age was 47.6 ± 10.7 years, mean BMI was 46.0 ± 6.8 kg/m2, and 54.2% were previous tobacco users. The total number of patients on two or more asthma medications decreased from 46% preoperatively to 41% at 18 months, to 36% at 36 months, and to 32% at 60 months after surgery. The total number of patients free from asthma medication increased from 25% preoperatively to 33% at 60 months postoperatively. Asthma medication use decreased in both surgery groups, and neither operation demonstrated superiority. No significant improvement nor differences were found between groups at any time point regarding FEV1/FVC ratio spirometry measures. CONCLUSION: Bariatric surgery reduces the use of medications taken for management of asthma. The amount of asthma medication usage decreases with time and is sustained at 60 months after bariatric surgery.

Modeling health risks using neural network ensembles.

This study aims to demonstrate that demographics combined with biometrics can be used to predict obesity related chronic disease risk and produce a health risk score that outperforms body mass index (BMI)-the most commonly used biomarker for obesity. We propose training an ensemble of small neural networks to fuse demographics and biometrics inputs. The categorical outputs of the networks are then turned into a multi-dimensional risk map, which associates diverse inputs with stratified, output health risk. Our ensemble model is optimized and validated on disjoint subsets of nationally representative data (N~100,000) from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). To broaden applicability of the proposed method, we consider only non-invasive inputs that can be easily measured through modern devices. Our results show that: (a) neural networks can predict individual conditions (e.g., diabetes, hypertension) or the union of multiple (e.g., nine) health conditions; (b) Softmax model outputs can be used to stratify individual- or any-condition risk; (c) ensembles of neural networks improve generalizability; (d) multiple-input models outperform BMI (e.g., 75.1% area under the receiver operator curve for eight-input, any-condition models compared to 64.2% for BMI); (e) small neural networks are as effective as larger ones for the inference tasks considered; the proposed models are small enough that they can be expressed as human-readable equations, and they can be adapted to clinical settings to identify high-risk, undiagnosed populations.

An emotional journey: caregiver experiences with gastrostomy tube decision-making for children with cystic fibrosis.

BACKGROUND: Nutritional challenges are common in early CF care and stressful for caregivers of children with CF (cwCF) to navigate. Gastrostomy tube (G-tube) placement can improve weight gain, however the decision to proceed with placement is personalized and preference-sensitive. Little is known about the experiences of caregivers of cwCF and the G-tube decision-making process. OBJECTIVES: The present study used a qualitative approach to explore the perceptions and experiences of caregivers of cwCF with G-tube introductions and recommendations, as well as factors influencing G-tube decision-making. METHODS: Caregivers of cwCF aged ≤ 10 years completed audio-taped, semi-structured interviews describing their experiences with G-tube placement discussions. Interviews were transcribed and two independent researchers coded the transcripts and conducted content and thematic analysis using an inductive approach. RESULTS: Participants included 43 caregivers, 84 % were mothers (36/43). CwCF had a mean age of 4 years (SD=2.6), 84 % were White (36/43), and 60 % reported weights below <50th percentile (26/43). All caregivers knew about G-tubes, 44 % (19/43) were recommended a G-tube and 35 % (15/43) had a G-tube placed. Major findings included descriptions of the stages of G-tube decision-making from a heads up, to the game plan, to making a first difficult decision and finally living with the decision to pursue G-tube placement. CONCLUSION: G-tube decision-making is an emotional and personalized journey for caregivers of cwCF. Efforts to explore the values and priorities of caregivers is imperative to supporting families making difficult decisions in CF care.

Initiatives to improve lung and sleep health in children: Delphi consensus from the pediatrics, pulmonary, and sleep conference.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The lung and sleep health of adults is heavily influenced by early factors, both genetic and environmental; therefore, optimizing respiratory health begins in childhood. Multiple barriers impede improvements in lung and sleep health for children. First, the traditional siloing between general pediatric care in the community, pediatric pulmonary and sleep subspecialty care, and the research community limits the translation of knowledge into practice. Additionally, identifying and addressing health disparities remains a challenge. The 2021 NHLBI-sponsored workshop "Defining and Promoting Pediatric Pulmonary Health (DAP3H)" was a first step in defining critical gaps in our current healthcare system in identifying and optimizing lung and sleep health in children. The workshop identified key opportunities including measuring pulmonary function in young children, sleep-focused outcomes, developing biomarkers, and longitudinal research cohorts. To expand on the work of DAP3H and continue initiatives to improve childhood lung and sleep health, the Pediatrics & Pulmonary Network: Improving Health Together conference was held in 2023. STUDY DESIGN: A modified Delphi process was applied to form consensus surrounding gaps, barriers, and action items, with the goal of identifying the most urgent opportnities for improving childhood lung and sleep health. RESULTS: Cross-cutting foundational principles were identified as: (1) Authentic Stakeholder Collaboration & Engagement, (2) Reach & Implementation in Real World Settings, (3) Understanding Current Landscape & Resources and (4) Purposeful Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Initiatives. CONCLUSIONS: To improve lung and sleep health in children, these principles should be the foundation for research design, development, and implementation.

Effect of a Comprehensive School-Based Health Center on Academic Growth in K-8th Grade Students.

OBJECTIVE: School-based health centers (SBHCs) improve health care access, but associations with educational outcomes are mixed and limited for elementary and middle school students. We investigated whether students enrolled in a comprehensive SBHC demonstrated more growth in standardized math and reading assessments over 4 school years versus nonenrolled students. We also explored changes in absenteeism. METHODS: Participants were students enrolled in 2 co-located Title I schools from 2015-19 (1 elementary, 1 middle, n = 2480). Analysis of math and reading was limited to students with baseline and postbaseline scores (math n = 1622; reading n = 1607). Longitudinal regression models accounting for within-subject clustering were used to estimate the association of SBHC enrollment with academic scores and daily absenteeism, adjusting for grade, sex, body mass index category, health conditions, baseline outcomes (scores or absenteeism), and outcome pretrends. RESULTS: More than 70% of SBHC-enrolled students had math (1194 [73.6%]) and reading 1186 [73.8%]) scores. Enrollees were more likely than nonenrollees to have asthma (39.7% vs 19.6%) and overweight/obesity (42.4% vs 33.6%). Adjusted baseline scores were significantly lower in math and reading for enrollees. Mean change from baseline for enrollees exceeded nonenrollees by 3.5 points (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.2, 4.8) in math and 2.1 points (95% CI: 0.9, 3.3) in reading. The adjusted rate of decrease in daily absenteeism was 10.8% greater for enrollees (incident rate ratio 0.772 [95% CI: 0.623, 0.956]) than nonenrollees (incident rate ratio 0.865 [95% CI: 0.696, 1.076]). CONCLUSIONS: SBHC enrollees had greater health and educational risk but demonstrated more growth in math and reading and less absenteeism than nonenrollees.

Ultra-rapid elimination of biofilms via the combustion of a nanoenergetic coating.

BACKGROUND: Biofilms occur on a wide variety of surfaces including metals, ceramics, glass etc. and often leads to accumulation of large number of various microorganisms on the surfaces. This biofilm growth is highly undesirable in most cases as biofilms can cause degradation of the instruments and its performance along with contamination of the samples being processed in those systems. The current "offline" biofilm removal methods are effective but labor intensive and generates waste streams that are toxic to be directly disposed. We present here a novel process that uses nano-energetic materials to eliminate biofilms in < 1 second. The process involves spray-coating a thin layer of nano-energetic material on top of the biofilm, allowing it to dry, and igniting the dried coating to incinerate the biofilm. RESULTS: The nanoenergetic material is a mixture of aluminum (Al) nanoparticles dispersed in a THV-220A (fluoropolymer oxidizer) matrix. Upon ignition, the Al nanoparticles react with THV-220A exothermically, producing high temperatures (>2500 K) for an extremely brief period (~100 ms) that destroys the biofilm underneath. However, since the total amount of heat produced is low (~0.1 kJ/cm2), the underlying surface remains undamaged. Surfaces with biofilms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa initially harboring ~ 10(7) CFU of bacteria /cm2 displayed final counts of less than 5 CFU/cm2 after being subjected to our process. The byproducts of the process consist only of washable carbonaceous residue and gases, making this process potentially inexpensive due to low toxic-waste disposal costs. CONCLUSIONS: This novel method of biofilm removal is currently in the early stage of development. However, it has potential to be used in offline biofilm elimination as a rapid, easy and environmentally friendly method.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Medical Home for Children Born Premature in the National Survey of Children's Health.

OBJECTIVE: Children born premature are more likely to be from minoritized racial and ethnic groups and face chronic health and developmental problems. The medical home aims to comprehensively address health and social needs of all families. This study evaluates racial and ethnic disparities in the prevalence of a medical home among children born premature compared to children born full-term. METHODS: A 2017-18 National Survey of Children's Health data set was used to calculate the medical home performance measure and subcomponents for children aged 0 to 17 born premature (n = 5633) or full-term (n = 45,819). Chi square and logistic regression assessed magnitude and significance of variations by race and ethnicity and prematurity status. RESULTS: Prematurity prevalence differed by race and ethnicity (12.0% non-Hispanic Black [NHB], 12.8% Hispanic, 11.1% Multiracial/Other, 11.0% non-Hispanic White [NHW]). Minoritized children born premature had lower adjusted odds of receiving care in a medical home compared to NHW peers (eg, NHB adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.54 [95% confidence interval {CI}: 0.38-0.76] and Hispanic aOR 0.56 [95% CI: 0.40-0.79]). Differences were greater in magnitude among children born premature compared to full-term peers (eg, NHB premature aOR 0.54 [95% CI: 0.38-0.76] vs NHB full-term aOR 0.67 [95% CI: 0.58-0.78]), with similar results for "personal doctor/nurse" and "usual sick care." CONCLUSIONS: Racial and ethnic disparities exist in the medical home among children born premature, some more pronounced than full-term peers. To deliver equitable care for all children, efforts are needed to expand access to and improve the medical home, including reliable routine and sick care and stronger family-provider relationships.

Defining and Promoting Pediatric Pulmonary Health: Equitable Family and Community Partnerships.

Optimizing pulmonary health across the lifespan begins from the earliest stages of childhood and requires a partnership between the family, pulmonologist, and pediatrician to achieve equitable outcomes. The Community Pediatrics session of the Defining and Promoting Pediatric Pulmonary Health workshop weaved together 4 community-based pillars with 4 research principles to set an agenda for future pediatric pulmonary research in optimizing lung and sleep health for children and adolescents. To address diversity, equity, and inclusion, both research proposals and workforce must purposefully include a diverse set of participants that reflects the community served, in addition to embracing nontraditional, community-based sites of care and social determinants of health. To foster inclusive, exploratory, and innovative research, studies must be centered on community priorities, with findings applied to all members of the community, particularly those in historically marginalized and minoritized groups. Research teams should also foster meaningful partnerships with community primary care and family members from study conceptualization. To achieve these goals, implementation and dissemination science should be expanded in pediatric pulmonary research, along with the development of rapid mechanisms to disseminate best practices to community-based clinicians. To build cross-disciplinary collaboration and training, community-academic partnerships, family research partnerships, and integrated research networks are necessary. With research supported by community pillars built on authentic partnerships and guided by inclusive principles, pediatric lung and sleep health can be optimized for all children and adolescents across the full lifespan in the community in which they live and thrive.

Development and validation of an accurate smartphone application for measuring waist-to-hip circumference ratio.

Waist-to-hip circumference ratio (WHR) is now recognized as among the strongest shape biometrics linked with health outcomes, although use of this phenotypic marker remains limited due to the inaccuracies in and inconvenient nature of flexible tape measurements when made in clinical and home settings. Here we report that accurate and reliable WHR estimation in adults is possible with a smartphone application based on novel computer vision algorithms. The developed application runs a convolutional neural network model referred to as MeasureNet that predicts a person's body circumferences and WHR using front, side, and back color images. MeasureNet bridges the gap between measurements conducted by trained professionals in clinical environments, which can be inconvenient, and self-measurements performed by users at home, which can be unreliable. MeasureNet's accuracy and reliability is evaluated using 1200 participants, measured by a trained staff member. The developed smartphone application, which is a part of Amazon Halo, is a major advance in digital anthropometry, filling a long-existing gap in convenient, accurate WHR measurement capabilities.

Resident Perceptions of Continuity Clinic Patient Metrics Differ From EHR Data: Pilot Use of Population Health Dashboards.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Population health management (PHM) dashboards using electronic health record (EHR) data can teach trainees about the population they serve while also delivering data on their clinical practice. Yet, few studies have demonstrated their use. In this pilot study, we assessed baseline resident perceptions of population health metrics for continuity clinic panels by comparing resident estimates with EHR-reported values delivered by individualized PHM dashboards. METHODS: A descriptive, comparative study was conducted at a primary continuity clinic site for pediatric residents in January 2018. Residents were surveyed about population health metrics for their patient panels, including demographics, utilization, and medical diagnoses. We compared resident estimates to corresponding EHR-reported values using 2-tailed paired t tests. RESULTS: A total of 42 out of 55 eligible residents (76%) completed the survey. Compared with EHR-reported values, residents estimated higher percentages of emergency department utilization (22.1% vs 10.3%, P < .01) and morbidity, including medical complexity (15.6% vs 5.9%, P < .01), overweight (38.1% vs 11.7%, P < .01), obesity (20.5% vs 15.8%, P = .02), and asthma (34.6% vs 21.4%, P < .01). CONCLUSIONS: In this pilot study of PHM dashboards, resident perceptions of continuity clinic population health metrics did not align with EHR data. Estimates were higher for measures of utilization and morbidity. PHM dashboards may help trainees better understand their patient populations and serve as a consistent source of objective practice data. However, further research and investment is needed to evaluate dashboard implementation and impact on trainee and patient outcomes.

Patient engagement strategies for adults with chronic conditions: an evidence map.

BACKGROUND: Patient and family engagement (PFE) has been defined as a partnership between patients, families, and health care providers to achieve positive health care outcomes. There is evidence that PFE is critical to improving outcomes. We sought to systematically identify and map the evidence on PFE strategies for adults with chronic conditions and identify areas needing more research. METHODS: We searched PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, and Cochrane, January 2015 to September 2021 for systematic reviews on strategies for engaging patients with chronic conditions and their caregivers. From each review, we abstracted search dates, number and type of studies, populations, interventions, and outcomes. PFE strategies were categorized into direct patient care, health system, and community-policy level strategies. We found few systematic reviews on strategies at the health system, and none at the community-policy level. In view of this, we also searched for original studies that focused on PFE strategies at those two levels and reviewed the PFE strategies used and study findings. RESULTS: We found 131 reviews of direct patient care strategies, 5 reviews of health system strategies, and no reviews of community-policy strategies. Four original studies addressed PFE at the health system or community-policy levels. Most direct patient care reviews focused on self-management support (SMS) (n = 85) and shared decision-making (SDM) (n = 43). Forty-nine reviews reported positive effects, 35 reported potential benefits, 37 reported unclear benefits, and 4 reported no benefits. Health system level strategies mainly involved patients and caregivers serving on advisory councils. PFE strategies with the strongest evidence focused on SMS particularly for patients with diabetes. Many SDM reviews reported potential benefits especially for patients with cancer. DISCUSSION: Much more evidence exists on the effects of direct patient care strategies on PFE than on the effects of health system or community-policy strategies. Most reviews indicated that direct patient care strategies had positive effects or potential benefits. A limitation of this evidence map is that due to its focus on reviews, which were plentiful, it did not capture details of individual interventions. Nevertheless, this evidence map should help to focus attention on gaps that require more research in efforts to improve PFE.

A Pilot Study of Patient Photographs and Handoff Communication.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Safe and effective handoffs have become a national priority. Given that patient photographs have been associated with safety benefits in other settings, we hypothesize they could improve handoff communication. Our objective was to determine whether patient photographs used during simulated handoffs improves information retention, response to clinical scenarios, and familiarity with patients, compared with simulated handoffs without photographs. METHODS: We conducted a pilot mixed-methods study using simulated handoff sessions with pediatric residents. One investigator simulated 2 verbal handoff sessions with participants randomized to receive stock patient photographs in either the first or second session. Participants answered an online questionnaire after each session to assess information recall and familiarity with patients. Primary outcomes included percent correct responses and response time. Participants were interviewed to assess the benefits and challenges of using photographs in handoffs. RESULTS: Forty pediatric residents participated. Correct responses and response time did not differ significantly between sessions. Participants indicated less confusion and more comfort caring for patients after photograph handoff sessions. All participants identified benefits to using patient photographs and 75% identified challenges. Benefits included assisting memory, enhancing connection with patients, and improving patient safety. Challenges included visual distraction, bias concerns, and patient privacy. CONCLUSIONS: In this pilot study, patient photographs did not result in improved information retention or efficiency of response to clinical scenarios but were associated with perceptions of reduced confusion and enhanced comfort. Participants identified benefits and challenges of incorporating photographs in handoffs that could inform use in real-world settings.

A case report of a retained interventricular septal bullet after gunshot wound.

Cardiac gunshot injuries herald a universally grim prognosis. We present an exceedingly unique case of a patient surviving multiple gunshot wounds with two bullet fragments lodged in the interventricular septum. A 25-year-old male sustained four gunshot wound injuries to the upper body. Two cardiac interventricular septal bullet fragments were identified during his recovery. Management included serial echocardiographic surveillance and a two-month regimen of empiric colchicine for prophylaxis against post-traumatic pericarditis. Pursuing non-operative management especially in asymptomatic or stable patients should be evaluated against surgical extraction and possible sequelae of complications. The consideration of scheduled colchicine for pericarditis prophylaxis is warranted as well as interval echocardiogram. Retained myocardial bullets are exceedingly rare clinical events with scant literature available to guide clinical decisions. Management requires intricate decision-making and close consideration of risk benefit analysis weighing surgical extraction against non-operative management.

Pediatric Asthma Is Associated With Poorer 3-Year Academic Achievement in Urban Elementary and Middle-School Students.

OBJECTIVE: Asthma has been associated with worse academic performance in a single school year, yet this association may be magnified over time as students with asthma continue to fall behind. This study examined the relationship between asthma and standardized test performance aggregated across 3 school years, including whether performance varied by likelihood of having significant asthma. METHODS: Data were from students in grades K-8 at 2 urban public schools in the Northeastern United States (2015-2018). Asthma was based on parent- and self-report and school health center records. Standardized test performance was assessed using Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) and Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC). Mixed effects linear and logistic regression models were used to evaluate the relationship between asthma and performance during 3 school years. RESULTS: Any asthma was associated with worse MAP performance across the 3 academic years. Students with the most significant asthma demonstrated worse performance on MAP and PARCC. Aggregating across 3 school years, students scored 3.17 points worse on MAP reading (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.7-5.63; P = .012) and 3.56 points worse on MAP mathematics (95% CI: 0.52-6.6; P = .022); they had 48.8% (95% CI: 1.9%-73.2%; P = .044) and 58.0% (95% CI: 21%-78%; P = .007) lower odds of proficiency on PARCC English/Language Arts and Mathematics, respectively compared to those without asthma. CONCLUSIONS: The relationship between asthma and poorer academic achievement in 1 school year may be magnified over multiple years, particularly among those with more significant asthma. School-based asthma interventions may support academic growth and more equitable health outcomes.

Patient and family engagement strategies for children and adolescents with chronic diseases: A review of systematic reviews.

OBJECTIVE: Patient and family engagement is important for family-centered care, particularly for children and adolescents with chronic disease. We aimed to 1) identify available evidence from systematic reviews on engagement strategies used to help children, adolescents, and their caregivers manage chronic conditions, and 2) identify gaps in the literature. METHODS: We searched PubMed and CINAHL from January 2015 to January 2020 for systematic reviews on patient and family engagement strategies in the pediatrics population (<18 years). Strategies were categorized by direct patient care, health system, and community policy levels. We excluded reviews if interventions were unidirectional or without comparison. RESULTS: We identified 25 systematic reviews. Twenty-two evaluated direct patient care, with 14 (279 unique studies) exclusively in pediatrics and 8 (24 unique studies) that included pediatric results with adults. Three reviews (9 unique studies) evaluated health system strategies. Direct patient care reviews focused on self-management support (n = 16) and shared decisionmaking (n = 6). Asthma was the most frequently evaluated condition (n = 14). CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Engagement strategies for children and adolescents with chronic disease are focused on direct patient care, particularly for asthma. More research is needed to address engagement for broader populations, expanded outcomes, and at health system and community levels.

Operative Technique for Laparoscopic Placement of Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis Catheter.

Background: Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is an increasingly utilized treatment modality for renal replacement therapy that affords medical and lifestyle benefits to the patient and financial savings to the health care system. Successful long-term use of PD is reliant upon an optimally functioning catheter. Many potential catheter-related complications can be avoided through utilizing optimal placement technique. As widespread use of PD as a renal replacement modality continues to increase, the need for a safe, standardized, catheter placement technique has become more evident. Objectives: To present a succinct synopsis of the rationale and elements of our current surgical management strategy for patients undergoing evaluation for PD and to provide a detailed stepwise description of our operative technique for PD catheter placement. This review describes potential pitfalls that may prevent optimal catheter function and describes each step taken to prevent potential complications. This description is combined with intraoperative photographs to highlight key steps. Conclusion: Following a defined reproducible stepwise approach, laparoscopic placement of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis catheters can be performed safely and known potential complications hindering optimal catheter function can be addressed prophylactically.