The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on families of children with medical complexity: A qualitative study of caregivers' experiences.

Background: Families of children with medical complexity (CMC) have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, experiencing challenges such as decreased access to services, increased financial hardship and increased isolation. However, there are few qualitative studies which explore parental experiences. The aim of the present study was to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on families of CMC.

Partnering with Parents of Children with Medical Complexity: A Framework for Engaging Families for Practice Improvement.

The role of patients and families has evolved over the years, from being viewed as entities who were told what to do, to consumers of health services, to being central to health system design and clinical decision-making. When designing health care practices and programs to be patient- and family-centered, we believe that parents of children with medical complexity (CMC) bring valuable viewpoints and experiences to the table. Good health and functional outcomes for CMC and their families are dependent on active family engagement with their health care partners.

The Effect of Early Knowledge of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Positivity on Medical Decision Making and Throughput Time Within the Pediatric Emergency Department.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether early knowledge of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) positivity by rapid triage-based testing protocol improved emergency department (ED) throughput time and decreased ED ancillary testing and antibiotic administration.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed of ED patients aged 2 to 12 months, presenting November 1 to March 31 for the years 2008-2013. Included patients presented with fever and upper respiratory tract symptoms.

How individual links affect network stability in a large-scale, heterogeneous metacommunity.

Elucidating how dispersal and landscape connectivity influence metacommunity stability will shed light on natural processes structuring ecosystems and help prioritize conservation actions in an increasingly fragmented world. Much of the theoretical and mathematical development of the metacommunity concept has been based on simplified experimental systems or simulated data. We still have limited understanding of how variation in the habitat matrix and species-specific differences in dispersal ability contribute to metacommunity dynamics in heterogeneous landscapes.

Quantitative analysis of forest fragmentation in the atlantic forest reveals more threatened bird species than the current red list.

Habitat loss and attendant fragmentation threaten the existence of many species. Conserving these species requires a straightforward and objective method that quantifies how these factors affect their survival. Therefore, we compared a variety of metrics that assess habitat fragmentation in bird ranges, using the geographical ranges of 127 forest endemic passerine birds inhabiting the Atlantic Forest of Brazil.

Estimating extinction risk with metapopulation models of large-scale fragmentation.

Habitat loss is the principal threat to species. How much habitat remains-and how quickly it is shrinking-are implicitly included in the way the International Union for Conservation of Nature determines a species' risk of extinction. Many endangered species have habitats that are also fragmented to different extents.