3 results
Impact of Training Consultant Pharmacists on Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs in Long-Term Care Facilities
- Muhammad Salman Ashraf, Philip Chung, Alex Neukirch, Scott Bergman, R. Jennifer Cavalieri, Rebecca Ortmeier, Mark Rupp, Christopher Wichman, Trevor Craig Van Schooneveld
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- Journal:
- Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology / Volume 41 / Issue S1 / October 2020
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 02 November 2020, pp. s446-s448
- Print publication:
- October 2020
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Background: The CDC recommends that consultant pharmacists support antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) in long-term care facilities (LTCFs). We studied CDC-recommended ASP core elements implementation and antibiotic use in LTCFs before and after training consultant pharmacists. Methods: Between August 2017 and October 2017, consultant pharmacists from a regional long-term care pharmacy attended 5 didactic sessions preparing them to assist LTCFs in implementation of CDC-recommended ASP core elements. Training also included creating a process for evaluating appropriateness of all systemic antibiotics and providing prescriber feedback during their monthly mandatory drug-regimen reviews. Once monthly “meet-the-expert” sessions were held with consultant pharmacists throughout the project (November 2017 to December 2018). LTCF enrollment began in November 2017 and >90% of facilities joined by January 2018. After enrollment, consultant pharmacists initiated ASP interventions including antibiotic reviews and feedback using standard templates. They also held regular meetings with infection preventionists to discuss Core Elements implementation and provided various ASP resources to LTCFs (eg, antibiotic policy template, guidance documents and standard assessment and communication tools). Data collection included ASP Core Elements, antibiotic starts, days of therapy (DOT), and resident days (RD). The McNemar test, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, generalized estimating equation model, and the classic repeated measures approach were used to compare the presence of all 7 core elements and antibiotic use during the baseline (2017) and intervention (2018) year.Results: In total, 9 trained consultant pharmacists assisted 32 LTCFs with ASP implementation. When evaluating 27 LTCFs that provided complete data, a significant increase in presence of all 7 Core Elements after the intervention was noted compared to baseline (67% vs 0; median Core Elements, 7 vs 2; range, 6–7 vs 1–6; P < .001). Median monthly antibiotic starts per 1,000 RD and DOT per 1,000 RD decreased in 2018 compared to 2017: 8.93 versus 9.91 (P < .01) and 106.47 versus 141.59 (P < .001), respectively. However, variations in antibiotic use were detected among facilities (Table 1). When comparing trends, antibiotic starts and DOT were already trending downward during 2017 (Fig. 1A and 1B). On average, antibiotic starts decreased by 0.27 per 1,000 RD (P < .001) and DOT by 1.92 per 1,000 RD (P < .001) each month during 2017. Although antibiotic starts remained mostly stable in 2018, DOT continued to decline further (average monthly decline, 2.60 per 1,000 RD; P < .001). When analyzing aggregated mean, antibiotic use across all sites per month by year, DOT were consistently lower throughout 2018 and antibiotic starts were lower for the first 9 months (Fig. 1C and 1D). Conclusions: Consultant pharmacists can play an important role in strengthening ASPs and in decreasing antibiotic use in LTCFs. Educational programs should be developed nationally to train long-term care consultant pharmacists in ASP implementation.
Funding: Merck & Co., Inc, provided funding for this study.
Disclosures: Muhammad Salman Ashraf and Scott Bergman report receipt of a research grant from Merck.
Mixed method study of quality of life for children with trisomy 18 and 13 after cardiac surgery
- Meaghann S. Weaver, Nicole Birge, Howard Hsu, Christine Woell, Jacob E. Robinson, Christopher Wichman, James Hammel
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- Journal:
- Cardiology in the Young / Volume 30 / Issue 2 / February 2020
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 22 January 2020, pp. 231-237
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Background and Objectives:
Cardiac surgical interventions for children with trisomy 18 and trisomy 13 remain controversial, despite growing evidence that definitive cardiac repair prolongs survival. Understanding quality of life for survivors and their families therefore becomes crucial. Study objective was to generate a descriptive summary of parental perspectives on quality of life, family impact, functional status, and hopes for children with trisomy 18 and trisomy 13 who have undergone heart surgery.
Methods:A concurrent mixed method approach utilising PedsQL™ 4.0 Generic Core Parent Report for Toddlers or the PedsQL™ Infant Scale, PedsQL™ 2.0 Family Impact Module, Functional Status Scale, quality of life visual analogue scale, and narrative responses for 10 children whose families travelled out of state to access cardiac surgery denied to them in their home state due to genetic diagnoses.
Results:Parents rated their child’s quality of life as 80/100, and their own quality of life as 78/100 using validated scales. Functional status was rated 11 by parents and 11.6 by providers (correlation 0.89). On quality of life visual analogue scale, all parents rated their child’s quality of life as “high” with mean response 92.7/100. Parental hopes were informed by realistic perspective on prognosis while striving to ensure their children had access to reaching their full potential. Qualitative analysis revealed a profound sense of the child’s relationality and valued life meaning.
Conclusion:Understanding parental motivations and perceptions on the child’s quality of life has potential to inform care teams in considering cardiac interventions for children with trisomy 18 and trisomy 13.
Aromatherapy improves nausea, pain, and mood for patients receiving pediatric palliative care symptom-based consults: A pilot design trial
- Meaghann S. Weaver, Jacob Robinson, Christopher Wichman
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- Journal:
- Palliative & Supportive Care / Volume 18 / Issue 2 / April 2020
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 19 August 2019, pp. 158-163
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Objective
The role of aromatherapy in supportive symptom management for pediatric patients receiving palliative care has been underexplored. This pilot study aimed to measure the impact of aromatherapy using validated child-reported nausea, pain, and mood scales 5 minutes and 60 minutes after aromatherapy exposure.
MethodsThe 3 intervention arms included use of a symptom-specific aromatherapy sachet scent involving deep breathing. The parallel default control arm (for those children with medical exclusion criteria to aromatherapy) included use of a visual imagery picture envelope and deep breathing. Symptom burden was sequentially assessed at 5 and 60 minutes using the Baxter Retching Faces scale for nausea, the Wong-Baker FACES scale for pain, and the Children's Anxiety and Pain Scale (CAPS) for anxious mood. Ninety children or adolescents (mean age 9.4 years) at a free-standing children's hospital in the United States were included in each arm (total n = 180).
ResultsAt 5 minutes, there was a mean improvement of 3/10 (standard deviation [SD] 2.21) on the nausea scale; 2.6/10 (SD 1.83) on the pain scale; and 1.6/5 (SD 0.93) on the mood scale for the aromatherapy cohort (p < 0.0001). Symptom burden remained improved at 60 minutes post-intervention (<0.0001). Visual imagery with deep breathing improved self-reports of symptoms but was not as consistently sustained at 60 minutes.
Significance of resultsAromatherapy represents an implementable supportive care intervention for pediatric patients receiving palliative care consults for symptom burden. The high number of children disqualified from the aromatherapy arm because of pulmonary or allergy indications warrants further attention to outcomes for additional breathing-based integrative modalities.