Reliability and validity of PROMIS® pediatric family relationships short form in children 8-17 years of age with chronic disease.

Purpose: Families play a key role in managing pediatric chronic illness. The PROMIS® pediatric family relationships measure was developed primarily within the general pediatric population. We evaluated the Family Relationships short form in the context of pediatric chronic diseases.

Diabetic Retinopathy Assessment Variability Among Eye Care Providers in an Urban Teleophthalmology Program.

Background: Teleophthalmology is an evidence-based method for diabetic eye screening. It is unclear whether the type of eye care provider performing teleophthalmology interpretation produces significant variability.

Introduction: We assessed grading variability between an optometrist, general ophthalmologist, and retinal specialist using images from an urban, diabetic retinopathy teleophthalmology program.

Are Parents Who Feel the Need to Watch Over Their Children's Care Better Patient Safety Partners?

Objectives: Many parents report needing to watch over their child's hospital care to prevent mistakes. In this study, we assessed whether needing to watch over care predicts parent performance of recommended safety behaviors to reduce medication errors and health care-associated infections.

Methods: At admission, we surveyed 170 parents about their need to watch over care, demographics, and hospitalization factors.

A Family-Centered Rounds Checklist, Family Engagement, and Patient Safety: A Randomized Trial.

Background And Objectives: Family-centered rounds (FCRs) have become standard of care, despite the limited evaluation of FCRs' benefits or interventions to support high-quality FCR delivery. This work examines the impact of the FCR checklist intervention, a checklist and associated provider training, on performance of FCR elements, family engagement, and patient safety.

Methods: This cluster randomized trial involved 298 families.

Trends in the Use of Medical Imaging to Diagnose Appendicitis at an Academic Medical Center.

Objective: To quantify the trends in imaging use for the diagnosis of appendicitis.

Methods: A retrospective study covering a 22-year period was conducted at an academic medical center. Patients were identified by International Classification of Diseases-9 diagnosis code for appendicitis.

Updated Outcomes of Prophylactic Femoral Fixation.

Despite an increasing number of patients with metastatic bone disease (MBD), minimal data exist regarding outcomes of patients undergoing prophylactic femoral fixation for MBD when compared with other frequently performed orthopedic operations, such as hemiarthroplasty of the femur. The authors performed a retrospective database review evaluating these procedures due to similar operative times and patient populations and also reviewed common comorbidities such as body mass index (BMI). The goal was to provide updated results of prophylactic femoral fixation and evaluate whether certain patient risk factors (eg, BMI) altered 30-day survival for patients with MBD.

Family-initiated dialogue about medications during family-centered rounds.

Background And Objective: Experts suggest family engagement in care can improve safety for hospitalized children. Family-centered rounds (FCRs) can offer families the opportunity to participate in error recovery related to children's medications. The objective of this study was to describe family-initiated dialogue about medications and health care team responses to this dialogue during FCR to understand the potential for FCR to foster safe medication use.

Parent perceptions of children's hospital safety climate.

Background: Because patients are at the frontline of care where safety climate is closely tied to safety events, understanding patient perceptions of safety climate is crucial. We sought to develop and evaluate a parent-reported version of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture and to relate parent-reported responses to parental need to watch over their child's care to ensure mistakes are not made.

Methods: Parents (n=172) were surveyed about perceptions of hospital safety climate (14 items representing four domains-overall perceptions of safety, openness of staff and parent communication, and handoffs and transitions) and perceived need to watch over their child's care.