Improving outcomes for underserved adolescents with asthma.

Background And Objective: Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood. Treatment adherence by adolescents is often poor, and their outcomes are worse than those of younger patients. We conducted a quality improvement initiative to improve asthma control and outcomes for high-risk adolescents treated in a primary care setting.

Parents' perceptions of a patient portal for managing their child's chronic illness.

Through interviews, we sought to describe parents' perceptions of a patient portal for the management of their child's chronic illness. Parents perceive patient portals as beneficial, providing easier communication with care providers, convenience, a sense of control, reduced anxiety, and reassurance. Future research should aim to quantitate these benefits.

Pediatric emergency department provider perceptions of universal sexually transmitted infection screening.

The purpose of this study was to describe the perceptions of pediatric emergency care providers in relation to implementing a universal sexually transmitted infection screening process for adolescent female patients in a pediatric emergency department. A descriptive qualitative design was used with a convenience sample of pediatric emergency physicians and nurses working in a large urban, pediatric teaching hospital. Participants were individually interviewed using a standard interview guide.

Improving notification of sexually transmitted infections: a quality improvement project and planned experiment.

Background And Objective: Inadequate follow-up of positive sexually transmitted infection (STI) test results is a gap in health care quality that contributes to the epidemic of STIs in adolescent women. The goal of this study was to improve our ability to contact adolescent women with positive STI test results after an emergency department visit.

Methods: We conducted an interventional quality improvement project at a pediatric emergency department.

Pilot and feasibility test of adolescent-controlled text messaging reminders.

Purpose: This pilot study assessed the feasibility, acceptability, and utility of a text messaging system that allowed teenagers with asthma to generate and control medical reminders sent to their mobile phones.

Methods: The 12 teens in the study group were able to create their own reminder text messages, add or change reminders, and determine when and how often the messages were sent to their cell phone.

Results: In total, 18 of the 21 unique messages created were reminders to take medication.

Overestimation of impairment-related asthma control by adolescents.

We investigated the concordance between adolescents' perceived and impairment-related asthma control. Based on self-reported medication use, symptoms, and activity limitations, most overestimated their impairment-related control (73.8%).

Usability testing finds problems for novice users of pediatric portals.

Objective: Patient portals may improve pediatric chronic disease outcomes, but few have been rigorously evaluated for usability by parents. Using scenario-based testing with think-aloud protocols, we evaluated the usability of portals for parents of children with cystic fibrosis, diabetes or arthritis. DESIGN Sixteen parents used a prototype and test data to complete 14 tasks followed by a validated satisfaction questionnaire.