ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: A chronic illness in childhood or adolescents constitutes a drastic event for the whole family, especially for the healthy siblings. This could impair their quality of life. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We designed a case-control-study in three centres (Leipzig, Giessen and Augsburg) with questionaires sent to 72 diabetic children, 71 of their siblings and 63 children of neighbourhood (controls) aged between 8 and 16 years. KINDL-Questionnaire was used for the study of the health-related quality of life of children and adolescents, supplemented by other appropriate items. RESULTS: The results indicate a positive health related quality of life of the healthy siblings of families with a child who has type 1 diabetes. Differences in the quality of life depend on factors such as age and gender of the children and relate to specific items of sibling relationship (e. g. "worried about sibling", "looked after sibling"). Generally, there was a great similarity with regard to the quality of life of healthy brothers and sisters from affected families compared with children of families without a child suffering from chronic illness. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the health related quality of life of healthy siblings of children with diabetes only differs insignificantly from brothers and sisters of "healthy" families.
Subject(s)
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1/rehabilitation , Health Status , Quality of Life , Siblings , Adolescent , Case-Control Studies , Child , Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1/genetics , Family , Female , Humans , Male , Sex CharacteristicsABSTRACT
Amid a flurry of Y2K preparations, which included converting patient accounting and order processing systems for six of its eight hospitals, Advocate Health Care needed to address physician complaints that the compliant software was awkward. By partnering with physicians, information systems (IS) rapidly developed a solution that met both the need for compliance and the demand for an easy-to-use, patient-centric clinical information system. A robust, browser-based results viewer provides physician access to information from patient accounting, order processing, and several clinical ancillary systems. Advocate anticipates greater challenges as the system is promoted to other sites and clinical communities.
