Parental Perception and Barriers Regarding COVID-19 Vaccination in Technology Dependent Children.

INTRODUCTION: Children who use chronic home mechanical ventilation are at high risk for respiratory infections and mortality. They are also at increased risk for developing severe COVID-19 infection. The primary goal of this study was to evaluate the parental perception of the COVID-19 vaccine in pediatric patients with technology dependence. METHOD: We conducted a cross-sectional survey at a children's hospital between September 2021 and February 2022. A telephone or in-person interview was conducted to assesss parental attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine for their technology-dependent child. Technology-dependent groups included patients requiring (1) invasive mechanical ventilation via tracheostomy and (2) noninvasive mechanical ventilation via a facial interface. RESULTS: Fourteen of 44 participants (32%) of technology-dependent children were vaccinated for COVID-19 despite high parental vaccination and influenza vaccination rates. Twenty-eight patients (63% of total participants) were tracheostomy dependent. In the tracheostomy group, the COVID-19 vaccine rate was 28% versus 54% in the nontracheostomy group.  Concern for vaccine side effects was the major reason for vaccine hesitancy (53%). More parents of vaccinated children than unvaccinated children were counseled by their primary care provider (85.7% vs. 46.7%; p = .02) or subspecialist (93% vs. 47%; p = .003). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest counseling by primary care providers and subspecialists is important in overcoming COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Social media was identified as a major source of information, particularly among parents of unvaccinated patients.

Patient Satisfaction with Telehealth During the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Pediatric Pulmonary Clinic.

INTRODUCTION: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has drastically impacted health care delivery systems and has resulted in the rapid implementation of telehealth services across many health care specialties. As the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to leverage digital mediums to increase patient access to health care, our pediatric pulmonary division sought to measure patient satisfaction with a new telehealth platform. METHOD: A survey was sent to 281 pediatric pulmonary patients from March 2020 to April 2020. Parents were asked to rate their overall experience with telemedicine. RESULTS: Fifty surveys were completed, and results indicated that overall initial satisfaction with care was high. Eighty-two percent of participants either strongly agreed or agreed that they would use telehealth services again. DISCUSSION: The positive outcome measures may reflect increased patient comfort with integrating telehealth into routine pediatric pulmonary care services. Given high patient satisfaction ratings, we believe that the telehealth platform should be considered for use in routine practice after the COVID-19 pandemic has resolved.