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Due to the lack of tools that can be easily used by practitioners, there is a need to develop acceptable embedded ways to assess children's fine motor skill development within early childhood education and care settings. This study examined the validity and reliability of a brief and ecologically valid fine motor assessment tool for preschool-aged children; the fine motor growth assessment (i.e., FINGA). Children's fine motor performance on FINGA was compared with widely-used and validated performance-based (Peabody Developmental Motor Scales 2nd edition) and informant-based (Ages and Stages Questionnaire 3rd edition) fine motor assessments. Ninety-one children [mean age (y) ± SD = 4.50y ± 0.68] were assessed within seven early childhood education and care services in New South Wales, Australia. Exploratory factor analyses (EFA) and linear regression analyses showed that FINGA had good internal consistency (EFA of 73%) and age sensitivity (Bstd = 0.69, p < 0.001), and bivariate correlation analyses demonstrated good concurrent validity (rs from 0.69 to 0.84, ps < 0.001) against the two comparison assessments. Because of its brevity and ecological validity, the FINGA tool should be further examined as a routine fine motor skills assessment administered within the context of universal early childhood education and care service provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Administrative health data has been used extensively to examine congenital heart disease (CHD). However, the accuracy and completeness of these data must be assessed. Objectives: To use data linkage of multiple administrative data sources to examine the validity of identifying CHD cases recorded in hospital discharge data. Methods: We identified all liveborn infants born 2013–2017 in New South Wales, Australia with a CHD diagnosis up to age one, recorded in hospital discharge data. Using record linkage to multiple data sources, the diagnosis of CHD was compared with five reference standards: (i) multiple hospital admissions containing CHD diagnosis; (ii) receiving a cardiac procedure; (iii) CHD diagnosis in the Register of Congenital Conditions; (iv) cardiac‐related outpatient health service recorded; and/or (v) cardiac‐related cause of death. Positive predictive values (PPV) comparing CHD diagnosis with the reference standards were estimated by CHD severity and for specific phenotypes. Results: Of 485,239 liveborn infants, there were 4043 infants with a CHD diagnosis identified in hospital discharge data (8.3 per 1000 live births). The PPV for any CHD identified in any of the five methods was 62.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] 60.9, 64.8), with PPV higher for severe CHD at 94.1% (95% CI 88.2, 100). Infant characteristics associated with higher PPVs included lower birthweight, presence of a syndrome or non‐cardiac congenital anomaly, born to mothers aged <20 years and residing in disadvantaged areas. Conclusion: Using data linkage of multiple datasets is a novel and cost‐effective method to examine the validity of CHD diagnoses recorded in one dataset. These results can be incorporated into bias analyses in future studies of CHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Carer Support Unit (CSU) of the Central Coast Local Health District (CCLHD), NSW, Australia, developed, trialled and implemented a Carer Readiness Tool (CRT) to help carers gauge their readiness to care at home, highlight to hospital staff areas for additional support for carers, and provide evidence of carer engagement in discharge planning. Description: A rigorous co-design process was followed with carer consultation at key milestones in development of the CRT. The tool was piloted in two cancer/chronic renal disease inpatient units commencing November 2019. Discussion: The CRT was well-received by carers who appreciated the opportunity to complete the tool in their own time, not in front of the patient. Positive feedback was received from clinicians, including the breadth of the CRT's content which contributed to better discharge planning. The need to manually incorporate a hard copy form into the electronic medical record is a limitation of the CRT. Conclusion: The CRT is context-specific and fit for purpose. During the development of the CRT, the project team focused on the face validity and usefulness of the tool. The next stage of the project will be formal evaluation of the tool to measure its impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]