Nancy A. Ryan-Wenger

Computed tomography correlates with improvement with ivacaftor in cystic fibrosis patients with G551D mutation

BACKGROUNDnIvacaftor corrects the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gating defect associated with G551D mutation and is quickly becoming an important treatment in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) due to this genetic mutation.nnnMETHODSnA single-center study was performed in CF patients receiving ivacaftor to evaluate the usefulness of high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of the chest as a way to gauge response to ivacaftor therapy.nnnRESULTSnTen patients with CF were enrolled for at least one year before and after starting ivacaftor. At time of enrollment, mean age was 20.9 ± 10.8 (range 10-44) years. There were significant improvements from baseline to 6 months in mean %FVC (93 ± 16 to 99 ± 16) and %FEV1 (79 ± 26 to 87 ± 28) but reverted to baseline at one year. Mean sweat chloride levels decreased significantly from baseline to one year. Mean weight and BMI improved at 6 months. Weight continued to improve with stabilization of BMI at one year. Chest HRCT showed significant improvement at one year in mean modified Brody scores for bronchiectasis, mucous plugging, airway wall thickness, and total Brody scores. Elevated bronchiectasis and airway wall thickness scores correlated significantly with lower %FEV1, while higher airway wall thickness and mucus plugging scores correlated with more pulmonary exacerbations requiring IV and oral antibiotics respectively.nnnCONCLUSIONSnBased on our findings, HRCT imaging is a useful tool in monitoring response to ivacaftor therapy that corrects the gating defect associated with the G551D-CFTR mutation.

Measuring nurses' impact on health care quality: progress, challenges, and future directions.

Background:Quality measurement is central in efforts to improve health care delivery and financing. The Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative supported interdisciplinary research teams to address gaps in measuring the contributions of nursing to quality care. Objective:To summarize the research of 4 interdisciplinary teams funded by The Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative and reflect on challenges and future directions to improving quality measurement. Methods:Each team summarized their work including the targeted gap in measurement, the methods used, key results, and next steps. The authors discussed key challenges and recommended future directions. Results:These exemplar projects addressed cross-cutting issues related to quality; developed measures of patient experience; tested new ways to model the important relationships between structure, process, and outcome; measured care across the continuum; focused on positive aspects of care; examined the relationship of nursing care with outcomes; and measured both nursing and interdisciplinary care. Discussion:Challenges include: measuring care delivery from multiple perspectives; determining the dose of care delivered; and measuring the entire care process. Meaningful measures that are simple, feasible, affordable, and integrated into the care delivery system and electronic health record are needed. Advances in health information systems create opportunities to advance quality measurement in innovative ways. Conclusions:These findings and products add to the robust set of measures needed to measure nurses’ contributions to the care of hospitalized patients. The implementation of these projects has been rich with lessons about the ongoing challenges related to quality measurement.

Demographics, Clinical Course, and Outcomes of Children with Status Asthmaticus Treated in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: 8-Year Review

Objective. This study was done to understand the demographics, clinical course, and outcomes of children with status asthmaticus treated in a tertiary care pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Methods. The medical charts of all patients above 5 years of age admitted to the PICU at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA, with status asthmaticus from 2000 to 2007 were reviewed retrospectively. Data from 222 encounters by 183 children were analyzed. Results. The mean age at admission in years was 11 ± 3.8. The median PICU stay was 1 day (range, 1–12 days) and median hospital stay was 3 days. The ventilated group (n = 17) stayed a median of 2 days longer in the PICU and hospital. Nearly half of the children (n = 91; 50%) did not receive daily controller asthma medications. Adherence to asthma medications was reported in 125 patient charts of whom 43 (34%) were compliant. Exposure to smoking was reported in 167 of whom 70 (42%) were exposed. Among patients receiving metered dose inhaler (MDI), only 39 (18%) were using it with a spacer. Among 105 patient charts asthma severity data were available, of them 21 (20%) were labeled as mild intermittent, 29 (28%) were mild persistent, 26 (25%) were moderate persistent, and 29 (28%) were severe persistent. Compared to children with only one PICU admission during the study period (n = 161), children who had multiple PICU admissions (n = 22) experienced more prior emergency department visits and hospitalizations for asthma symptoms. There were no fatalities. Conclusion. Asthmatics with any disease severity are at risk for life-threatening asthma exacerbations requiring PICU stay, especially those who are not adherent with their daily medications.

Hospitalized Children's Perspectives on the Quality and Equity of Their Nursing Care

Hospitalized children and adolescents (n = 496), aged 6 to 21 years, were asked to evaluate the quality of their nursing care by describing nurse behaviors that they liked and disliked. They named 1673 positive nurse behaviors (12 categories) that made them feel good, happy, safe, and cared about, including “gives me what I need when I need it” (42.3%) and “checks on me often” (34.7%). Six categories of negative nurse behaviors (n = 485), such as “does things to me that hurt or are uncomfortable” (64.1%) and “wakes me up” (24%), made them feel sad, bad, mad, scared, or annoyed.

Factorial structure of the perception of risk factors for type 2 diabetes scale: exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVESnThe extent to which individuals perceptions of risk for type 2 diabetes are related to their actual risks and health-promoting behaviours is not well known. Yet perception of risk for type 2 diabetes may influence the likelihood that individual would engage in preventive behaviours. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the perception of risk factors for type 2 diabetes (PRF-T2DM).nnnMETHODSnA descriptive, correlational, methodological design was used to conduct this study. The sample consisted of 629 adults from 42 states of the United States. A demographic questionnaire, the PRF-T2DM, the health-promoting lifestyle profile II and the depressive cognition scale were used to collect the data. Data analyses consisted of descriptive statistics, scale and item analyses, Pearsons correlation analysis, and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses.nnnRESULTSnThe PRF-T2DM has a Cronbachs alpha of 0.81. Both extracted factors had Cronbachs alphas of 0.74 and 0.80, respectively. Most inter-item and item-to-total correlation coefficients for factor 1 and factor 2 met the recommended criteria of r=0.30 to r=0.70. The PRF-T2DM achieved all minimum recommended criteria for model fit (χ(2) /d.f.=2.33, goodness of fit index=0.95, adjusted goodness of fit index=0.93, comparative fit index=0.94, root mean square error of approximation=0.05, root mean residual=0.05 and the P value for test of close fit=0.33).nnnCONCLUSIONSnAll statistical estimates and measures of model fit were above the standard recommended criteria. The scale has potential uses in research and clinical practice. Further development and psychometric evaluation of the PRF-T2DM is warranted.

An interdisciplinary momentary confluence of events model to explain, minimize, and prevent pediatric patient falls and fall-related injuries

PURPOSEnThis article reviews theoretical, empirical, and clinical evidence to support the hypothesis that pediatric patient fall episodes are rarely predictable; rather, falls and fall-related injuries occur during the momentary convergence of child, parent, and caregiver human factors, and environmental, biomechanical, and system factors.nnnCONCLUSIONSnWe propose an interdisciplinary pediatric fall and injury prevention model to guide future research toward interventions to prevent or minimize pediatric patient falls and injuries.nnnPRACTICE IMPLICATIONSnWhen falls and near miss falls occur, nurses detailed descriptions of each model component are critical to discovery of more effective pediatric fall and injury prevention methods.

Army women's evaluations of a self-administered intervention to prevent sexually transmitted diseases during travel.

BACKGROUNDnMilitary personnel experience seven times the sexually transmitted infections of civilians. Military women are especially vulnerable. No self-administered interventions to promote safer sexual behaviors are available for use by military personnel while on duty in austere locations. The purpose of this study was to ascertain Army womens evaluations of a new theory-based, self-administered, and portable intervention designed to promote safer sexual practices during duty abroad.nnnMETHODnTwo focus groups were conducted at a large military installation in the Pacific Northwest. Army women (N=20) ages 18-49 years participated in the groups. Women first examined the intervention and then their reactions to the intervention were elicited with open-ended questions. The qualitative data then were content analyzed.nnnRESULTSnAll participants would either recommend or personally use the intervention. Positive features of the intervention included the type of information, a user-friendly and self-explanatory format, and that it was an aid to decision making about safer sex. Concerns included a tendency toward too much information and fears of non-acceptance by peers or sexual partners.nnnCONCLUSIONnMinor changes have been made based upon these results. The intervention will be reviewed again and proceed to clinical trials with female military personnel and other travelers.

Pediatric Medical Line Safety: The Prevalence and Severity of Medical Line Entanglements

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to describe the prevalence and severity of medical line entanglements among pediatric patients (N = 486). Most patients, with ages from birth to 6 years, had at least 1 medical line (n = 444, 91%), and 294 children (60%) had 2 to 11 medical lines. Observed entanglements included lines around body parts (n = 31), lines under the body (n = 71), and lines tangled with other lines (n = 50). One third of the children were at risk for adverse events due to entanglements, and 1 patient actually experienced real harm.

Improving pediatric asthma care: A partnership between pediatric primary care clinics and a free-standing Children's Hospital.

Abstract Background: Asthma is a common chronic disease of childhood. Providers’ adherence to asthma guidelines is still less than optimal. Objectives: To determine if an Asthma Education Program aimed at primary care practices can improve asthma care within practices and if the results vary by duration of the program. Methods: Ten practices were randomly assigned to an Early Asthma Education Intervention (EI) group or a Delayed Asthma Education Intervention (DI) group. The EI group received the intervention for 12 months and was monitored for 6 additional months. The DI group was observed without intervention for 12 months, then received the intervention for 6 months, and was monitored for 6 additional months. The program included training of asthma educators in each practice and then monitoring for improvement in medical record documentation of National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) asthma quality indicators by blinded random review of patient charts. Results: In the EI group, 6-, 12-, and 18-month data revealed significant improvement in documentation of asthma severity, education, action plan, night time symptoms, and symptoms with exercise compared to baseline and compared to DI group at baseline and at the 12-month interval. In the DI group, significant improvement in documentation in all of the above endpoints and also in documentation of NAEPP treatment guidelines was noted at 18 and 24 months. In both groups, documentation levels remained relatively stable at 6 months after the intervention, with no significant differences between groups. While improved, guideline adherence was <80% for half of the indicators. Conclusion: In-office training of non-physician asthma providers improves the quality of asthma care.

Improved quality-of-life of caregivers of children with asthma through guideline-based management

ABSTRACT Objective: The quality of life (QOL) of caregivers of children with asthma may be related to childrens responses to asthma management. Aim: To evaluate change in QOL over time of caregivers of children with asthma through guideline-based management. Design: This was a 3-year prospective cohort study of children with asthma referred to our pediatric asthma center. Families completed Pediatric Asthma Caregivers Quality of Life Questionnaire (PACQLQ), the Asthma Control Test™ (ACT), and reported the number of days/month of albuterol use and wheezing at each clinic visit. Results: We enrolled 143 children, ages 7–17 years (mean = 10.6 ± 2.9), 56.6% male, 70.6% Caucasian. Patients were managed by the same MD (n = 65,45.5%) or APN (n = 78,54.5%) over time. The mean total PACQLQ significantly increased over the 3-year period (F = 67.418, p < .001). Total scores at the first visit were 4.8 ± 1.6, which improved to 6.1 ± 1 at the 3-month follow-up visit. This improvement was sustained at the 1, 2, and 3-year clinic visits. PACQLQ emotional function (F = 60.798, p < .001) and activity limitation (F = 41.517, p < .001) domains significantly improved as well. PACQLQ scores were significantly associated with improved ACT scores (r = .37 to .47, p < .05), fewer days/month of albuterol use (r = −.25 to −.36., p < .05), and wheezing (r = −.28 to −.33, p < .05). There were no significant differences in PACQLQ, or asthma clinical outcome measures between MD and APN providers. Conclusion: Use of National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) guidelines significantly improved QOL of caregivers of children with asthma and in asthma-related symptoms. Improvements over time were independent of type of providers.