How parents express their worry in calls to a medical helpline: a mixed methods study.

BACKGROUND: Telephone triage is used globally in out-of-hours primary care, to prioritize who needs urgent assessment. Even though children rarely are severely ill, calls about sick children are among the most prevalent, mainly due to parental worry. Pediatric calls are considered challenging, as the call-handler must rely on parents' second-hand information. We aimed to investigate if parents' worry can be used as a predictor of severe illness, and if the content of the calls varies between different grades of worry. METHODS: In a convergent mixed methods study design we asked patients to rate their degree-of-worry before talking to a call-handler. We used quantitative data of degree-of-worry, triage- and patient outcome in pediatric calls (n = 2857), and the qualitative content from 54 calls with subsequent hospitalization ≥24 h. RESULTS: High degree-of-worry was associated with hospitalization ≥24 h (OR 3.33, 95% CI 1.53-7.21). Qualitative findings both confirmed and expanded knowledge of degree-of-worry. Worry was the predominant cause for contact overall, and was mainly triggered by loss-of-control. In calls with high degree-of-worry, the prevalence of loss-of-control was especially high, and the parents had additionally often contacted healthcare services recently. Parents with a foreign accent often rated their worry as high, and these callers were often ignored or interrupted. Calls with low degree-of-worry seemed to occur early during the disease. CONCLUSION: High degree of parental worry was associated with severe illness. At the end of calls, call-handlers should ensure that the parent has regained control of the situation to reach increased reassurance and to prevent renewed unnecessary contact. Safety-netting is crucial, as many parents made contact early during the illness and deterioration may develop later. The scoring of parental degree-of-worry may be used as an indicator of potentially severe illness and can easily be implemented at out-of-hours call-centers globally. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Original study registered at clinicaltrials.gov ( NCT02979457 ).

What should be included in the assessment of laypersons' paediatric basic life support skills? Results from a Delphi consensus study.

BACKGROUND: Assessment of laypersons' Paediatric Basic Life Support (PBLS) skills is important to ensure acquisition of effective PBLS competencies. However limited evidence exists on which PBLS skills are essential for laypersons. The same challenges exist with respect to the assessment of foreign body airway obstruction management (FBAOM) skills. We aimed to establish international consensus on how to assess laypersons' PBLS and FBAOM skills. METHODS: A Delphi consensus survey was conducted. Out of a total of 84 invited experts, 28 agreed to participate. During the first Delphi round experts suggested items to assess laypersons' PBLS and FBAOM skills. In the second round, the suggested items received comments from and were rated by 26 experts (93%) on a 5-point scale (1 = not relevant to 5 = essential). Revised items were anonymously presented in a third round for comments and 23 (82%) experts completed a re-rating. Items with a score above 3 by more than 80% of the experts in the third round were included in an assessment instrument. RESULTS: In the first round, 19 and 15 items were identified to assess PBLS and FBAOM skills, respectively. The ratings and comments from the last two rounds resulted in nine and eight essential assessment items for PBLS and FBAOM skills, respectively. The PBLS items included: "Responsiveness"," Call for help", "Open airway"," Check breathing", "Rescue breaths", "Compressions", "Ventilations", "Time factor" and "Use of AED". The FBAOM items included: "Identify different stages of foreign body airway obstruction", "Identify consciousness", "Call for help", "Back blows", "Chest thrusts/abdominal thrusts according to age", "Identify loss of consciousness and change to CPR", "Assessment of breathing" and "Ventilation". DISCUSSION: For assessment of laypersons some PBLS and FBAOM skills described in guidelines are more important than others. Four out of nine of PBLS skills focus on airway and breathing skills, supporting the major importance of these skills for laypersons' resuscitation attempts. CONCLUSIONS: International consensus on how to assess laypersons' paediatric basic life support and foreign body airway obstruction management skills was established. The assessment of these skills may help to determine when laypersons have acquired competencies. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not relevant.

Patent Ductus Arteriosus Treatment in Very Preterm Infants: A European Population-Based Cohort Study (EPICE) on Variation and Outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Spontaneous closure of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) occurs frequently in very preterm infants and despite the lack of evidence for treatment benefits, treatment for PDA is common in neonatal medicine. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this work was to study regional variations in PDA treatment in very preterm infants (≤31 weeks of gestation), its relation to differences in perinatal characteristics, and associations with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and survival without major neonatal morbidity. METHODS: This was a population-based cohort study in 19 regions in 11 European countries conducted during 2011 and 2012. A total of 6,896 infants with data on PDA treatment were included. The differences in infant characteristics were studied across regions using a propensity score derived from perinatal risk factors for PDA treatment. The primary outcomes were a composite of BPD or death before 36 weeks postmenstrual age, or survival without major neonatal morbidity. RESULTS: The proportion of PDA treatment varied from 10 to 39% between regions (p < 0.001), and this difference could not be explained by differences in perinatal characteristics. The regions were categorized according to a low (<15%, n = 6), medium (15-25%, n = 9), or high (>25%, n = 4) proportion of PDA treatment. Infants treated for PDA, compared to those not treated, were at higher risk of BPD or death in all regions, with an overall propensity score adjusted risk ratio of 1.33 (95% confidence interval 1.18-1.51). Survival without major neonatal morbidity was not related to PDA treatment. CONCLUSIONS: PDA treatment varies largely across Europe without associated variations in perinatal characteristics or neonatal outcomes. This finding calls for more uniform guidance for PDA diagnosis and treatment in very preterm infants.

Improvement in perinatal care for extremely premature infants in Denmark from 1994 to 2011.

INTRODUCTION: Major advances in perinatal care over the latest decades have increased the survival rate of extremely premature infants. Centralisation of perinatal care was implemented in Denmark from 1995. This study evaluates the effect of organisational changes of perinatal care on survival and morbidity of live-born infants with gestational ages (GA) of 22-28 weeks. METHODS: Three cohort studies were included from 1994-1995, 2003 and 2011. Data from live-born infants were extracted regarding risk factors, survival, bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), cystic periventricular leukomalacia (cPVL) and intraventricular haemorrhage grade 3-4 (IVH 3-4). RESULTS: A total of 184, 83 and 127 infants were included from the cohorts. Delivery rates at level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) hospitals increased from 69% to 87%. Transfer rates to level 3 NICU almost doubled during the period. Survival rates were stationary, although a trend towards increased survival was observed for infants < 26 weeks. The frequency of infants receiving evidence-based treatment increased from 14% to 46%. IVH 3-4 rates were reduced from 21% to 12%, whereas BPD and cPVL rates did not change. Survival odds increased with higher gestational age and administration of surfactant. CONCLUSIONS: Centralisation of treatment of extremely premature infants has been implemented because more children are being born at highly specialised perinatal centres. Care improved as more infants received evidence-based treatment. IVH 3-4 rates declined. A trend towards increased survival was observed for infants with a GA < 26 weeks. FUNDING: none. TRIAL REGISTRATION: not relevant.