RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: To assess pediatric critical care transport (CCT) teams' performance in a simulated environment and to explore the impact of team and center characteristics on performance. STUDY DESIGN: This observational, multicenter, simulation-based study enlisted a national cohort of pediatric transport centers. Teams participated in 3 scenarios: nonaccidental abusive head injury, sepsis, and cardiac arrest. The primary outcome was teams' simulation performance score. Secondary outcomes were associations between performance, center and team characteristics. RESULTS: We recruited 78 transport teams with 196 members from 12 CCT centers. Scores on performance measures that were developed were 89% (IQR 78-100) for nonaccidental abusive head injury, 63.3% (IQR 45.5-81.8) for sepsis, and 86.6% (IQR 66.6-93.3) for cardiac arrest. In multivariable analysis, overall performance was higher for teams including a respiratory therapist (0.5 points [95% CI: 0.13, 0.86]) or paramedic (0.49 points [95% CI: 0.1, 0.88]) and dedicated pediatric teams (0.37 points [95% 0.06, 0.68]). Each year increase in program age was associated with an increase of 0.04 points (95% CI: 0.02, 0.06). CONCLUSIONS: Dedicated pediatric teams, inclusion of respiratory therapists and paramedics, and center age were associated with higher simulation scores for pediatric CCT teams. These insights can guide efforts to enhance the quality of care for children during interfacility transports.
RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of a collaborative initiative between a group of general emergency departments (EDs) and an academic medical center (AMC) on the process of care provided to patients with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) across these EDs. STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective cohort study (January 2015 to December 2018) of all pediatric patients <18 years who presented with DKA to participating EDs and were subsequently admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit at the AMC. Our multifaceted intervention included simulation with postsimulation debriefing, targeted assessment reports, distribution of DKA best practices, pediatric DKA module, and scheduled check-in visits. The process of clinical care was measured by adherence to the pediatric DKA 9-item checklist. Adherence was scored based on the number of items performed correctly and calculated using equal weight for items and dividing by the total number of items. Patients' clinical outcomes also were collected. RESULTS: A total of 85 patients with DKA were included in the analysis; 38 patients were in the preintervention, and 47 were in the postintervention. There was a statistically significant improvement in adherence to the DKA checklist from 77.8% to 88.9%. Two of the 9 checklist items (hourly glucose check and appropriate fluid rate) showed statistically significant improvement. No significant change in patient clinical outcomes was noted. CONCLUSIONS: Our collaborative initiative resulted in significant improvements in adherence to pediatric DKA best practices across a group of general EDs. A collaborative approach between general EDs and AMCs is an effective improvement strategy for pediatric emergency care.