Publications by authors named "Alejandra Gonzalez-Ruiz"

This article aims to describe the activities conducted by the National Childhood Cancer Plan Working Group to support the development of national childhood cancer plans in Latin America and the Caribbean in the period 2019-2022, and to present the stage of plan development. The Working Group activities were supported by the Pan American Health Organization and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which is the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Childhood Cancer.

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Background: Paediatric early warning systems (PEWS) aid in the early identification of clinical deterioration events in children admitted to hospital. We aimed to investigate the effect of PEWS implementation on mortality due to clinical deterioration in children with cancer in 32 resource-limited hospitals across Latin America.

Methods: Proyecto Escala de Valoración de Alerta Temprana (Proyecto EVAT) is a quality improvement collaborative to implement PEWS in hospitals providing childhood cancer care.

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Background: Pediatric Early Warning Systems (PEWS) assist early detection of clinical deterioration in hospitalized children with cancer. Relevant to successful PEWS implementation, the "stages of change" model characterizes stakeholder support for PEWS based on willingness and effort to adopt the new practice.

Methods: At five resource-limited pediatric oncology centers in Latin America, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 71 hospital staff involved in PEWS implementation.

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Background: Pediatric Early Warning Systems (PEWS) aid in identification of deterioration in hospitalized children with cancer but are underutilized in resource-limited settings. Proyecto EVAT is a multicenter quality improvement (QI) collaborative in Latin America to implement PEWS. This study investigates the relationship between hospital characteristics and time required for PEWS implementation.

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic impacted healthcare delivery worldwide, including pediatric cancer care, with a disproportionate effect in resource-limited settings. This study evaluates its impact on existing quality improvement (QI) programs.

Methods: We conducted 71 semi-structured interviews of key stakeholders at five resource-limited pediatric oncology centers participating in a collaborative to implement Pediatric Early Warning System (PEWS).

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Background: Sustainability, or continued use of evidence-based interventions for long-term patient benefit, is the least studied aspect of implementation science. In this study, we evaluate sustainability of a Pediatric Early Warning System (PEWS), an evidence-based intervention to improve early identification of clinical deterioration in hospitalized children, in low-resource settings using the Clinical Capacity for Sustainability Framework (CCS).

Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of a qualitative study to identify barriers and enablers to PEWS implementation.

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Working with PAHO/WHO to prioritize childhood cancer in the context of systems strengthening is central to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (SJCRH)'s role as WHO Collaborating Centre for Childhood Cancer. This manuscript focuses on how SJCRH and PAHO/WHO have partnered to apply C5 (Country Collaboration for Childhood Cancer Control) to define and implement priority actions regionally, strengthening Ministry programs for childhood cancer, while implementing the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer since 2018.

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Background: Pediatric Early Warning Systems (PEWS) reduce clinical deterioration, improve interdisciplinary communication, and provide cost savings; however, little is known about how these impacts are achieved or related. This study evaluates the multi-level impacts of PEWS in resource-limited pediatric oncology centers.

Methods: We conducted 71 semi-structured interviews including physicians (45%), nurses (45%), and administrators (10%) from 5 resource-limited pediatric oncology centers in 4 Latin American countries.

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Background: Pediatric early warning systems (PEWS) aid in the early identification of deterioration in hospitalized children with cancer; however, they are under-used in resource-limited settings. The authors use the knowledge-to-action framework to describe the implementation strategy for Proyecto Escala de Valoracion de Alerta Temprana (EVAT), a multicenter quality-improvement collaborative, to scale-up PEWS in pediatric oncology centers in Latin America.

Methods: Proyecto EVAT mentored participating centers through an adaptable implementation strategy to: (1) monitor clinical deterioration in children with cancer, (2) contextually adapt PEWS, (3) assess barriers to using PEWS, (4) pilot and implement PEWS, (5) monitor the use of PEWS, (6) evaluate outcomes, and (7) sustain PEWS.

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Importance: Pediatric early warning systems (PEWS) aid with early identification of clinical deterioration and improve outcomes in children with cancer hospitalized in resource-limited settings; however, there may be barriers to implementation.

Objective: To evaluate stakeholder-reported barriers and enablers to PEWS implementation in resource-limited hospitals.

Design, Setting, And Participants: In this qualitative study, semistructured stakeholder interviews were conducted at 5 resource-limited pediatric oncology centers in 4 countries in Latin America.

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Article Synopsis
  • Paediatric Early Warning Systems (PEWS) enhance the detection of patient deterioration, but their long-term effectiveness in low-resource settings remains unexamined; this study focuses on developing and validating a Spanish-language Clinical Sustainability Assessment Tool (CSAT) for such environments.
  • The study involved PEWS implementation teams from 29 pediatric cancer centers in Latin America, where the CSAT was translated, distributed, and analyzed for reliability and validity through surveys and focus groups, showing an 80% response rate and a solid reliability score.
  • Results indicated that higher CSAT scores correlated with better perceptions of PEWS effectiveness, hospital culture, and the duration of PEWS usage, with focus group feedback highlighting the tool's utility in
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