Integrated behavioral health education using simulated patients for pediatric residents engaged in a primary care community of practice.

INTRODUCTION: Novel teaching curricula using simulated patients (SP) and a team-based approach are needed to teach pediatric residents how to approach behavioral health (BH) conditions in an integrated care setting. METHOD: This mixed-methods study evaluated a pilot curriculum on BH integration in pediatric primary care. Two 1-hour didactic sessions and 3 hours of SP encounters focused on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety, followed by facilitated debriefings that included interdisciplinary team members. Residents completed pre- and postcurriculum surveys on self-efficacy in patient assessment and management. A subset of residents participated in semistructured interviews, reviewing video recordings of their SP encounters to facilitate reflection on their learning. We conducted qualitative analysis of interview transcripts until we reached thematic saturation. RESULTS: Residents (n = 31) reported significantly improved self-efficacy in the majority of BH skills (p ≤ .05 to p ≤ .0001), including assessing and discussing concerns with families, using screening tools, developing management plans, prescribing medications, and performing warm handoffs with BH clinicians. In analysis of 15 interviews, four themes emerged: shared experiences, mutual engagement, contextual meaning, and behavioral change, which aligned with the components of the communities of practice framework. Sharing experiences within an integrated BH-pediatric primary care learning community enhanced activated, self-reflective learning and consequent behavioral change that contributed to identity formation. DISCUSSION: Resident participation in the integrated BH-pediatric curriculum improved self-efficacy in patient care for anxiety and ADHD. Curricula implemented in integrated learning communities could help promote reflection and improve integrated pediatric-BH care, including warm handoffs from pediatric to BH providers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Comparing inhaled medications reported by adolescents with persistent asthma and their caregivers.

Objectives: To compare concordance (agreement) between teens with persistent asthma and their caregivers on the reported number of inhaled asthma medications used (rescue and controller); examine concordance specific to controller medications; and determine whether concordance over controller medications within caregiver/teen dyads is associated with demographics or clinical outcomes.Methods: We used baseline data from the School-Based Asthma Care for Teens (SB-ACT) trial in urban Rochester, NY. Caregivers and teens (12-16 yrs.) with poorly controlled persistent asthma separately reported the teens' inhaled therapy, and could name up to two rescue and two controller medications. We compared the total number of medications and number of controller medications reported by each dyad member with Cohen's Kappa, and assessed whether concordance over the number of controller medications was associated with demographics, symptoms, or healthcare utilization using chi-square and t-tests.Results: Of 210 dyads (79% public health insurance, 61% Black teens), 132 (63%) were disconcordant in reporting the overall number of inhaled medications. Teens or caregivers from 173 dyads (82%) reported any controller medication; however, a majority (61%) were discordant in the reporting of controller medications. Compared with concordant dyads, fewer caregivers from dyads with controller medication discordance reported education past high school (35% vs. 51%, p = 0.04); no other differences in demographics, symptoms, or healthcare utilization were identified based on controller medication concordance.Conclusions: Most dyads identified different numbers of inhaled medications, with substantial disagreement over controller medications. Working to ensure a basic understanding of treatment plans may promote successful self-management in persistent childhood asthma.

Responsibility for Asthma Management Among Adolescents With and Without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

PURPOSE: Among diverse, low-income urban adolescents with persistent asthma, we examined whether attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) comorbidity, compared with asthma alone, was associated with clinical outcomes, healthcare utilization, and responsibility for self-management. METHODS: We conducted a secondary analysis of data from a large school-based study of adolescents with asthma in Rochester, NY. Adolescents reported asthma symptoms over 2 weeks and primary care and hospital admissions over 1 year. We assessed shared responsibility for asthma management between caregivers and adolescents. RESULTS: ADHD comorbidity was common (28%) in this sample of 370 adolescents. Adolescents with ADHD had more primary care utilization and hospitalizations than those without, despite having similar asthma symptoms. Caregivers and adolescents with ADHD reported that adolescents had less shared responsibility for nine asthma management tasks. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents with ADHD share less responsibility for asthma self-management. These teens' increased healthcare use might provide opportunities for clinicians to provide extra self-management support.

Evaluation of a Health Care Transition Improvement Process in Seven Large Health Care Systems.

PURPOSE: Youth and young adults require systematic planning, transfer and integration into adult healthcare. A national health care transition (HCT) learning network (LN) shared strategies during monthly calls to improve HCTs using Got Transition™'s Six Core Elements. Among LN participants, we conducted a pre-post mixed-methods evaluation of this evidence-informed process improvement framework. DESIGN AND METHODS: Leaders from seven health systems in the LN recruited 55 participating practice sites (12 primary care, 43 specialty care, 47 pediatric care, and 8 adult care). Got Transition's Current Assessment (CA) of HCT Activities (possible score: 0-32) assessed implementation of HCT process improvements in all 55 sites at baseline (2015-2017) and again after 12-18 months. Pre-post results were compared overall and by type of practice (primary vs. specialty, pediatric vs. adult). In early 2018, health system leaders qualitatively described factors impacting HCT process implementation. RESULTS: Overall, baseline CA scores averaged 10.7, and increased to 17.9 after 12-18 months. Within each clinical setting, scores increased from: 10.8 to 16.5 among 12 primary care sites, 12.8 to 17.1 among 43 specialty sites, 12.4 to 17 among 47 pediatric sites, and 12 to 16.9 among 8 adult sites. All changes reached significance (p < 0.05). Qualitative feedback offered valuable feedback about motivators, facilitators and barriers to HCT process improvement. CONCLUSIONS: Participating systems made substantial progress in implementing a structured HCT process consistent with clinical recommendations using the Six Core Elements. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The diverse perspectives of participating health systems provide a model for creating sustainable HCT process improvements.

Transition Readiness for Talking With Providers in Urban Youth With Asthma: Associations With Medication Management.

PURPOSE: Teen readiness assessments may provide a developmental indicator of the transfer of responsibility for health self-management from caregivers to teens. Among urban adolescents with asthma, we aimed to describe teen readiness for talking with providers and identify how readiness relates to responsibility for asthma management, medication beliefs, and clinical outcomes. METHODS: Teens and caregivers enrolled in the school-based asthma care for teen's trial in Rochester, NY completed in-home surveys. We classified ready teens as those reporting a score of five on both items of the transition readiness assessment questionnaire talking with providers subscale. We performed bivariate analyses to detect differences between ready teens and other teens in teen- and caregiver-reported responsibility, teen medication beliefs, and clinical outcomes (medication adherence over the past 2 weeks, and healthcare use over the past year). RESULTS: Among this sample of 251 adolescents (mean age: 13.4 years), 35% were classified as "Ready." Ready teens were more likely than other teens to want to use a controller medication independently (7.6 vs. 6.5 out of 10, p < .01) and to have confidence in this ability (8.4 vs. 7.6 out of 10, p = .02). Teens reported poor adherence (missed 52.9% of prescribed controller doses), with no differences in responsibility or clinical outcomes based on level of teen readiness for talking with providers. CONCLUSIONS: In urban adolescents with poorly controlled asthma, a higher level of teen readiness for talking with providers is associated with higher perceptions of independence in medication taking, but does not appear to relate to clinical outcomes.

Knowledge of Inhaled Therapy and Responsibility for Asthma Management Among Young Teens With Uncontrolled Persistent Asthma.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the abilities of teens with uncontrolled persistent asthma and their caregivers to identify inhaled medications and state correct indications for use; examine medication responsibility within dyads; and determine whether responsibility is associated with knowledge about inhaled therapies. METHODS: In the baseline survey for the School-Based Asthma Care for Teens (SB-ACT) trial, we separately asked caregivers and teens to: 1) identify the teen's inhaled asthma therapies by name and from a picture chart (complete matches considered "concordant"); 2) describe indications of use for each medication; and 3) describe the allocation of responsibility for medication use within dyads. We limited analyses to dyads in which either member reported at least one rescue and one inhaled controller medication; we used McNemar and Pearson chi-square tests. RESULTS: A total of 136 dyads were analyzed. More caregivers than teens concordantly identified medications (63% vs 31%, P < .001). There was no difference between caregivers and teens in the ability to state correct indications for use (56% vs 54%, P = .79). More teens than caregivers endorsed "full teen responsibility" for rescue medication (65% vs 27%, P < .001) and controller medication use (50% vs 15%, P < .001). Neither concordant identification nor knowing indications for use was associated with reported medication responsibility. CONCLUSIONS: Medication responsibility within dyads of caregivers and teens with persistent asthma is not associated with knowledge about inhaled therapies. Targeting both members of the dyad with education and self-management strategies before responsibility transitions start may allow providers to avoid a missed opportunity to support these emerging stakeholders to adherence.

Integrated Mental Health Training for Pediatric and Psychology Trainees Using Standardized Patient Encounters.

Primary care pediatricians and psychology practitioners who comanage mental health problems can develop interdisciplinary communication and collaborative skills from joint standardized patient encounters and debriefings, combined with brief didactics. Learners showed increased confidence in shared management of behavior health problems.

TRANSFER FROM PEDIATRIC TO ADULT ENDOCRINOLOGY.

OBJECTIVE: Adult and pediatric endocrinologists share responsibility for the transition of youth with type 1 diabetes from pediatric to adult healthcare. This study aimed to increase successful transfers to adult care in subspecialty practices by establishing a systematic health care transition (HCT) process. METHODS: Providers from the adult and pediatric endocrinology divisions at the University of Rochester Medical Center met monthly to customize and integrate the Six Core Elements (6CEs) of HCT into clinical workflows. Young adult patients with type 1 diabetes having an outpatient visit during a 34-month pre-post intervention period were eligible (N = 371). Retrospective chart review was performed on patients receiving referrals to adult endocrinology (n = 75) to obtain (1) the proportion of patients explicitly tracked during transfer from the pediatric to adult endocrinology practice, (2) the providers' documentation of the use of the 6CEs, and (3) the patients' diabetes control and healthcare utilization during the transition period. RESULTS: The percent of eligible patients with type 1 diabetes who were explicitly tracked in their transfer more than doubled compared to baseline (11% vs. 27% of eligible patients; P<.01). Pediatric providers started to use transition readiness assessments and create medical summaries, and adult providers increased closed-loop communication with pediatric providers after a patient's first adult visit. Glycemic control and healthcare utilization remained stable. CONCLUSION: Successful implementation of the 6CEs into pediatric and adult subspecialty practices can result in improvements of planned transfers of pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes to adult subspecialty providers. ABBREVIATIONS: 6CEs = six core elements; AYA = adolescent and young adult; DKA = diabetic ketoacidosis; ED = emergency department; HbA1c = hemoglobin A1c; HCT = health care transition.