Archive for complex care
I-PASS this patient to you: Improved hospital ‘handoffs’ cut adverse events by almost half
About 15 years ago, Boston Children’s Hospital pediatricians Christopher Landrigan, MD, MPH, and Amy Starmer, MD, MPH, observed a weak link in hospital care. Medical residents were rigorously trained to take patient histories with standardized templates and to present cases in a structured format during daily rounds. Yet such structured communication was largely absent at ... Read More
When a critically ill child is homeless
On a single night in 2020, roughly 172,000 in families with children and 34,000 unaccompanied youth under age 25 were homeless, according to government figures. Many more families are housing insecure amid skyrocketing rents. A large body of research finds that both situations put children at increased risk for health problems. Parents may have ... Read More
Getting COVID-19 vaccines to medically fragile children
As COVID-19 vaccines slowly roll out, should children who need complex care or have serious medical conditions be vaccinated? We asked experts around Boston Children’s Hospital, and their resounding answer is: Yes, if they are age 16 or older. Boston Children’s is actively planning to make vaccination happen for as many patients as possible, as ... Read More
The CAMEO tool: Capturing the complex nature of pediatric nursing
By any measure, nursing is a complex profession. On any given day, nurses must draw on a wide range of cognitive skills and clinical tools to care for their patients, and by extension, their patients’ families. As patients become increasingly complex, so do the specific proficiencies necessary to complete their jobs. Measuring the cognitive complexity ... Read More
Violet is blossoming five years after Tessier cleft surgery
In October 2014, Violet and her parents traveled from their home in rural Oregon to Boston Children’s Hospital for a life-changing surgery. Violet, who was born with an extremely rare and serious craniofacial anomaly, called a Tessier cleft, needed an operation to close the gap in her facial bones. After nine hours in the surgical ... Read More
Going back to school with a chronic condition
Going back to school can be a time of excitement for many families: Your kids are looking forward to reconnecting with their friends — and you’re looking forward to watching them learn and grow. But for caregivers of children and teens with chronic or complex conditions, preparing for a new school year involves much more ... Read More
Young inventor puts time in hospital to good use
Alexis (Lexi) Abbott is a 14-year-old inventor from the Appalachian Highlands region of Virginia. Lexi is so dedicated to her craft that she didn’t let a recent hospital stay at Boston Children’s Hospital for a complex spinal surgery get in the way of her creativity. Instead, she came prepared, turning her stay into an extended ... Read More
Cloud-based complex care platform empowers clinicians and families alike
For children with complex medical needs, care coordination across medical specialties is a major pain point, as is communication across multiple provider systems. And patients aren’t the only ones feeling the burden. Consider these startling statistics: $25-$45 billion is wasted annually in the U.S. due to poor communication in health care.$45 billion has been invested in ... Read More
Surgical 3-D printing: 300 prints, 16 specialties and counting
3-D printing is rapidly becoming a part of surgical planning. Since July 2013, Boston Children’s Hospital’s 3-D printing service, part of the Simulator Program, has received about 200 requests from 16 departments around the hospital. It’s generated a total of about 300 prints, most of them replicating parts of the body to be operated on. Most ... Read More
Pediatric complex care: A day in the life
This is the first post of a two-part series on children with complex medical needs. Details on some patients have been changed for privacy reasons. This morning, as every morning, the Complex Care Service (CCS) team huddles in a tiny office deep inside Boston Children’s Hospital. They have 14 patients to discuss, each with a ... Read More