Health Care Transition Planning: Educational Needs of Pediatric Nurses and Pediatric Nurse Practitioners.

Introduction: The purpose was to identify the educational needs of pediatric nurses and pediatric nurse practitioners providing direct care to transition-aged youth with chronic illness and disability and to identify strategies to develop health care transition planning (HCTP) expertise.

Method: Mixed-methods descriptive analyses were performed on survey data extracted from a larger national study exploring the provision of HCTP activities performed by nurses of two pediatric nursing professional organizations.

Results: Items querying educational needs were completed by 1,162 pediatric nurses serving in advanced practice and staff roles.

Health care transition planning: A potpourri of perspectives from nurses.

Purpose: Nurses have important roles as members of the healthcare transition (HCT) planning interdisciplinary team. Nursing's scope of practice and framework of care brings a distinctive and complementary approach to this expanding field in pediatric care. It is therefore relevant to better understand the extent to which pediatric nurses are involved with the provision of HCT services and model development.

Improving Adolescent and Young Adult Engagement in the Process of Transitioning to Adult Care.

Purpose: Health care transition (HCT) is the complex process of changing from pediatric to adult-centered care. Comprehensive HCT processes have been associated with improved outcomes in all elements of the Triple Aim. Nationally accepted best practices emphasize Six Core Elements of HCT, including the use of transition readiness assessment tools completed during clinic visits.

Survey of US pediatric nurses' role in health care transition planning: Focus on assessment of self-management abilities of youth and young adults with long-term conditions.

The survival rates of youth and young adults (YYAs) diagnosed with long-term conditions have improved considerably as 90% now enter adulthood; health care transition planning (HCTP) has emerged as a nursing practice priority. The aim of this national online survey was to investigate the extent to which nurses, recruited from two major United States pediatric nursing organizations are involved with HCTP including assessing YYA self-management abilities (SMA). Findings of a 9-item assessment of self-management abilities subscale of the nurses' role in HTCP tool are reported.

Pediatric Nurses' Role in Health Care Transition Planning: National Survey Findings and Practice Implications.

Purpose: Youth and young adults (YYA) with chronic illness and/or disability (CID) face numerous challenges in transition from pediatric to adult health care. Established evidence supports interdisciplinary team approaches to preparing youth and families for transition and transfer. The purpose of this national survey was to address a gap in current knowledge specific to pediatric nursing professionals' roles and responsibilities in health care transition planning (HCTP).

Minding the gap in pediatric headache care: Can a focus on quality measures improve outcomes?

Background: The American Academy of Neurology Headache Quality Measures seek to improve care delivery and outcomes by addressing gaps in care. Our practice identified underperformance in 3 of the 7 measures that apply to children and adolescents. We expected that improved performance on these measures would lead to a reduction in emergency department (ED) visits and improvement in the average disability grade of established patients.

The Development and Content Validation of a Self-reported Instrument to Explore the Nurse's Role in Healthcare Transition Planning for Youth and Young Adults With Chronic Illness and/or Disability (NR-HCTP).

Purpose: To develop an instrument to assess the nurse's role and responsibilities in healthcare transition planning (HCTP) for youth and young adults (YYA) with chronic illness and/or disability (CI/D) that will determine to what extent nurses are involved with providing HCTP services; and identify the specific activities that nurses engage in when providing HCTP services.

Design And Methods: A panel of seven experts in the field were used to determine content validity.

Results: The final NR-HCTP instrument contains a total of 68 items (17 main items, 5 containing sub items) representing activities that nurses engage in when providing HCTP services, their level and extent of involvement, and their level of knowledge in the areas of HCTP.

Snoring, Trouble Breathing, Un-Refreshed (STBUR) Screening Questionnaire to Reduce Perioperative Respiratory Adverse Events in Pediatric Surgical Patients: A Quality Improvement Project.

Children who present for surgery with undiagnosed sleep-disordered breathing are particularly vulnerable to perioperative respiratory adverse events (PRA Es). Preoperative screening can identify children at increased risk who would benefit from evidence-based perioperative management, reducing serious preventable harm or death. The purpose of this quality improvement study was 2-fold: (1) increase identification of pediatric surgical patients who may be at increased risk of PRAE through the introduction of a validated pediatric screening questionnaire (Snoring, Trouble Breathing, Un-Refreshed [STBUR]), and (2) reduce preventable harm by introducing evidence-based perioperative management guidelines.

Transition from Pediatric to Adult Specialty Care for Adolescents and Young Adults with Refractory Epilepsy: A Quality Improvement Approach.

Adolescents and young adults with refractory epilepsy are particularly vulnerable to serious medical and psychosocial challenges during transition from pediatric to adult care. Quality improvement methods were used to address the transition process on an academic medical campus. Outcomes achieved were decreased time from referral to first appointment in the adult clinic, H=8.

Intrathecal baclofen for the treatment of spasticity of cerebral origin.

Nurses monitoring children receiving intrathecal baclofen therapy can assist with management of these patients by being aware of possible complications related to a change in tone, medication withdrawal, or overdose. The tone management team relies on family care providers, school nurses, ambulatory clinic nurses, and outside physical and occupational therapists to provide information and updates on changes in patient status as needed. Close collaboration and communication regarding the child and his/her response to ITB is essential to providing safe and effective care for this challenging population of patients.