Search

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore the experience and perceived value of travel nurses in a children's hospital. BACKGROUND: Children's hospitals face unique challenges related to highly specialized care requirements and workforce expansion limitations. Travel nurses can augment nurse staffing capacity during times of intense demand and may offer insights as organizations seek to strengthen work environments. METHODS: Pediatric travel nurses currently contracted at the hospital were invited to participate in a focus group or interview. Content analysis was used to summarize information and identify themes. RESULTS: From the 56 participants, 5 themes emerged. The themes were financial, flexibility, searching for healthy work environments, nursing care, and solutions. CONCLUSIONS: Hearing the voices of travel nurses may offer valuable feedback to strengthen future professional practice environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a non‐invasive technology that estimates regional oxygen saturation. Literature demonstrates that NIRS can provide valuable data for clinical staff. However, little research has addressed the nursing care and management of NIRS in the critical care environment. Aims: To assess nurses' perception around the use of NIRS and current NIRS practice within paediatric cardiac intensive care unit (PCICUs). Study Design: A 53‐item cross‐sectional electronic survey was developed to assess indications for NIRS, critical value thresholds and interventions, barriers to use, policies and procedures, and nursing perceptions. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize and aggregate data. Results: Among the 28 responding sites (63.6% response rate), usage of NIRS was variable and patient‐dependent. Most nurses reported using NIRS in patients with unstable physiology such as post‐operative single ventricle (n = 25, 89.3%) and concern for shock (n = 21, 75.0%). Critically low cerebral values varied among respondents from less than 40 (n = 3, 10.7%) to less than 60 (n = 4, 14.3%), with lower critical values permitted for single ventricle physiology: less than 40 (n = 8, 28.6%) to less than 50 (n = 6, 21.4%). Reported barriers to using NIRS included skin breakdown (n = 9, 32.1%), lack of consistency in decision‐making among physicians (n = 13, 46.4%), and not using NIRS data when developing a plan of care (n = 11, 39.3%). Most (n = 24, 85.7%) nurses reported that NIRS provided valuable information and was perceived to be beneficial for patients. Conclusions: NIRS monitoring is a common technology in the care of complex congenital heart disease patients. Most nurses valued this technology, but inconsistencies and practicalities around its use in guiding patient management were found to be problematic. Relevance to Clinical Practice: NIRS is commonly used in the PCICU and although nurses perceived NIRS to be useful for their practice, the variability in the interpretation of values and inconsistent protocols and decision‐making by physicians was challenging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To identify patient, institutional, and regional factors that are associated with high resource utilization for congenital heart surgery. Methods. We used hospital discharge data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Kids' Inpatient Database (KID) year 2000 (data from 27 states). Patients who had congenital heart surgery and were younger than 18 years were identified using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes. High resource utilization admissions were defined as those in the highest decile for total hospital charges. Univariate and multivariate analyses with and without deaths were used to determine demographic and hospital predictors for cases of high resource use. Case-mix severity was approximated using Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery risk groups. Regional and state differences were also examined. Results. Among 10 569 cases of congenital heart surgery identified, median total hospital charges were $53 828. Statewide differences in the number of high resource use admissions were present; California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, and Texas were more likely to have high resource use cases, and Maine and South Carolina were less likely. Subsequent analyses were performed adjusting for baseline state effects. Multivariate analyses using generalized estimating equations models revealed Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery risk category (odds ratio [OR]: 1.66-14.1), age (OR: 3.81), prematurity (OR: 4.85), the presence of other major noncardiac structural anomalies (OR: 2.53), Medicaid insurance (OR: 1.48), and admission during a weekend (OR: 1.62) to be independent predictors of a higher odds of high cost cases. Although some institutional differences were noted in univariate analyses, gender, race, bed size, teaching and children's hospital status, hospital ownership, and hospital volume of cardiac cases were not independently associated with greater odds of high resource utilization. Conclusions. States varied in the frequency of high resource utilization for congenital heart surgery. Patients who had greater disease complexity, younger age, prematurity, other anomalies, and Medicaid and were admitted during a weekend were more likely to result in high resource utilization. Institutions of various types did not differ in high cost admissions, regardless of children's hospital or teaching status. Pediatrics 2005;116:689-695; congenital heart disease, Kids' Inpatient Database, resource utilization, hospital charges, risk adjustment., ABBREVIATIONS. HCUP, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project; KID, Kids' Inpatient Database; SID, State Inpatient Database; ICD-9-CM, International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification; RACHS-1, Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart [...]