Impact of Clinical Guidelines on Hospital Utilization in Children With Croup.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the impact of croup guidelines on healthcare utilization and association between guideline-recommended racemic epinephrine (RE) treatments and admission. METHODS: Cross-sectional study of children ≥3 months to ≤8 years with croup diagnosis (International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision) from 38 hospitals within the Pediatric Health Information System between January 1, 2019 and June 30, 2022. Guidelines were categorized by minimum number of RE treatments recommended before admission. Exclusion criteria included complex chronic or croup mimicking conditions, alternate respiratory diagnoses, and direct admissions or transfers. Primary outcomes were admission rates and standardized costs. Outcomes were compared by guideline availability and different admission thresholds. Mixed effects regression was adjusted for age, sex, race, payer, previous croup encounters, and year. RESULTS: Twenty hospitals (52.6%) had guidelines. Fourteen recommended 2 RE treatments and 3 recommended 3 RE treatment before admission. Among 121 284 croup encounters, overall mean admission rate was 5.7% (range 0.6% to 18.5%). Hospitals with guidelines demonstrated lower unadjusted admission rate (4.6% vs 6.6%; mean difference -2.0, 95% confidence interval -2.3 to -1.7) and higher costs ($704 vs $651; mean difference 53, 95% confidence interval 43 to 63) compared with hospitals without guidelines. Hospitals with guidelines recommending 3 RE treatments demonstrated similar unadjusted mean admission rate (5.1%) and lower costs ($658 vs $713) compared with hospitals with guidelines recommending 2 RE treatments. After adjustment, all above-mentioned differences were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Many children's hospitals lack guidelines for croup. Admission rates and costs were not significantly different between hospitals with or without guidelines after adjusting for confounders.

Variation in Organizational Clinical Practice Guidelines for Croup.

BACKGROUND: Croup is one of the most common respiratory complaints in pediatric emergency departments (EDs), yet little is known about clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for this condition. OBJECTIVES: To describe variation in CPGs across US children's hospitals. METHODS: We describe the prevalence and features of CPGs among hospitals that submit data to the Pediatric Health Information System. Each hospital was contacted between January 10, 2022, and April 25, 2022, for their most recent croup CPG and any revisions. Characteristics reported were based on the most recent CPG revision. Characteristics included treatment recommendations, utilization measures, ED observation times, and admission criteria. Interrater reliability between reviewers was reported as percentage agreement. RESULTS: Thirty-eight hospitals (79.2%) responded to our query, of which 20 (52.6%) had croup CPGs. Interrater reliability was moderate-high for categorizing the indication for racemic epinephrine (RE) (19 of 20; 95%), the minimum number of RE doses recommended before admission (15 of 20; 75%), and ED observation time (19 of 20; 95%), and was 100% for all other characteristics. Three CPGs (15.0%) recommended 1 RE dose, 14 (70.0%) recommended 2 RE doses, and 3 (15.0%) recommended 3 RE doses before hospital admission. Thirteen (65%) CPGs recommended RE for stridor at rest, whereas 7 (30%) recommended RE for any degree of stridor. Fourteen (70%) CPGs recommended an ED observation time <2 hours, 3 (15%) recommended 2 to 4 hours, and 2 (10%) recommended >4 hours. Few CPGs (15%) recommended use of standardized croup clinical scores. CONCLUSIONS: Substantial variation exists among croup CPGs. Our results may inform future efforts to standardize croup CPGs across centers.

Piloting a Mobile Clinical Decision Support Application for Pediatric Clinical Guidelines.

Mobile Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSSs) represent an increasingly utilized technology to promote clinical guideline use. We sought to explore clinician guideline use and access preferences during implementation of a mobile guideline app at a free-standing children's hospital integrating 23 guidelines. Surveys included demographic variables and access preferences among anonymous onboarded clinicians in January 2022. Response rate was 21.8% (57/261) among onboarded users, mostly attending (59.6%) and resident/fellow physicians (21.1%) in inpatient (42.1%) and emergency department (31.6%) settings. Onboarded users accessed guidelines on over half of shifts (68.4%) and quickly (80.7%, <1 minute). Overall, most users reported favorable patterns for adoption of mobile CDSSs as useful adjuncts to existing formats. Users reported more ease of access and frequent guideline usage, particularly for younger clinicians. Guidelines related to antibiotic decision-making or newer disease processes were most useful. Further study is needed on electronic health record incorporation, adherence, and patient outcomes.

Assessing Usability and Ambulatory Clinical Staff Satisfaction with Two Electronic Health Records.

BACKGROUND: A growing body of literature has linked usability limitations within electronic health records (EHRs) to adverse outcomes which may in turn affect EHR system transitions. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (CU), and Weill Cornell Medical College (WC) are a tripartite organization with large academic medical centers that initiated a phased transition of their EHRs to one system, EpicCare. OBJECTIVES: This article characterizes usability perceptions stratified by provider roles by surveying WC ambulatory clinical staff already utilizing EpicCare and CU ambulatory clinical staff utilizing iterations of Allscripts before the implementation of EpicCare campus-wide. METHODS: A customized 19-question electronic survey utilizing usability constructs based on the Health Information Technology Usability Evaluation Scale was anonymously administered prior to EHR transition. Responses were recorded with self-reported demographics. RESULTS: A total of 1,666 CU and 1,065 WC staff with ambulatory self-identified work setting were chosen. Select demographic statistics between campus staff were generally similar with small differences in patterns of clinical and EHR experience. Results demonstrated significant differences in EHR usability perceptions among ambulatory staff based on role and EHR system. WC staff utilizing EpicCare accounted for more favorable usability metrics than CU across all constructs. Ordering providers (OPs) denoted less usability than non-OPs. The Perceived Usefulness and User Control constructs accounted for the largest differences in usability perceptions. The Cognitive Support and Situational Awareness construct was similarly low for both campuses. Prior EHR experience demonstrated limited associations. CONCLUSION: Usability perceptions can be affected by role and EHR system. OPs consistently denoted less usability overall and were more affected by EHR system than non-OPs. While there was greater perceived usability for EpicCare to perform tasks related to care coordination, documentation, and error prevention, there were persistent shortcomings regarding tab navigation and cognitive burden reduction, which have implications on provider efficiency and wellness.

Characterization of Social Risk Factors Among Newborns Seen at an Urban Pediatric Primary Care Predictive of Appointment Nonattendance During the First 6 Months of Life.

Purpose: Appointment attendance is critical in monitoring health and well-being of children. Low income Medicaid-insured families with newborns often experience social risks that may affect attendance. This project sought to characterize social risk factors present at first newborn visits predictive of future appointment nonattendance. Methods: Retrospective cohort study of minority and Medicaid-insured population at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children using a standardized social risk screener administered at first newborn visits as part of routine clinical care. In total, 720 survey responses between December 2016 and June 2017 were correlated with electronic health record-derived sociodemographic and appointment attendance data in the first 6 months of life. Nonattendance included missed and canceled appointments. Caregiver-reported social risk factors were included as covariates in linear regressions predicting proportion nonattendance outcomes. Results: Newborn caregivers identified many social risk factors including mental health diagnoses (14%), lack of child care support (45%), and food insecurity (9%). Approximately 74% had nonattendance with 41% missing or canceling a quarter or more appointments. Number of siblings (p<0.01) and maternal age (p<0.01) were most predictive for nonattendance, respectively. Other social risks were not significant except for maternal mental health (p=0.01) among those identifying number of risk factors above cohort average (16%). Conclusion: Screening of newborns at first medical visits can be used to characterize social risks. Most social risk factors at first visits were not strongly predictive of nonattendance, although our results suggested associations between non-attendance and maternal demographics, mental health and household makeup.

Telemedicine Surge for Pediatric Patients in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in New York City.

Background: Our objective is to describe our pediatric virtual urgent care (VUC) experience at a large urban academic medical center, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City (NYC). Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of our pediatric VUC program of patients less than age 18 years, from March 1 to May 31, 2020. We include data on expansion of staffing, patient demographics, virtual care, and outcomes. Results: We rapidly onboarded, educated, and trained pediatric telemedicine providers. We evaluated 406 pediatric patients with median age 4.4 years and 53.9% male. Median call time was 5:12 pm, median time to provider was 5.7 min, and median duration of call was 11.1 min. The most common reasons for a visit were COVID-19-related symptoms (36%), dermatologic (15%), and trauma (10%). Virtual care for patients consisted of conservative management (72%), medication prescription (18%), and referral to an urgent care or pediatric emergency department (PED) (10%). Of 16 patients referred and presented to our emergency department, 2 required intensive care for multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. Oral antibiotics were prescribed for 7.1% of all patients. Only 0.005% of patients had an unplanned 72-h PED visit resulting in hospitalization after a VUC visit. Conclusion: Pediatric emergency VUC allowed for high-quality efficient medical care for patients during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in NYC. Although most patients were managed conservatively in their home, telemedicine also enabled rapid identification of patients who required in-person emergency care.