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Objective: To analyze patient perspectives of the use of financial incentives in a hypertension intervention. Study Setting. Twelve Veterans Affairs primary care clinics over a 9-month period.Study Design: Qualitative semistructured interviews conducted with 54 hypertensive veterans participating in an intervention to promote guideline-consistent therapy. Intervention components included an intervention letter requesting patients talk with their providers, an offer of U.S.$20 to bring in the letter to their provider, and a health educator phone call.Data Collection Methods: Semistructured interviews were conducted. Transcripts were coded for thematic content. The financial incentive theme was then subcoded for more detailed analysis.Principle Findings: Most participants (n=48; 88.9 percent) stated the incentive had (or would have) no effect on their decision to initiate a discussion with their provider. Some participants articulated reservations about the effectiveness and/or appropriateness of financial incentives in health care decisions; however, a few expressed the opinion that there may be some potential benefits to the use of financial incentives if they encourage patients to be active in their health care.Conclusion: The findings of this study raise questions about the appropriateness and unintended consequences of employing patient-directed financial incentives in health care settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To use a practical approach to examining the use of Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC) strategies by Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) dimensions for rural health innovations using annual reports on a diverse array of initiatives., Data Sources and Study Setting: The Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Rural Health (ORH) funds initiatives designed to support the implementation and spread of innovations and evidence-based programs and practices to improve the health of rural Veterans. This study draws on the annual evaluation reports submitted for fiscal years 2020-2022 from 30 of these enterprise-wide initiatives (EWIs)., Study Design: Content analysis was guided by the RE-AIM framework conducted by the Center for the Evaluation of Enterprise-Wide Initiatives (CEEWI), a Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI)-ORH partnered evaluation initiative., Data Collection and Extraction Methods: CEEWI analysts conducted a content analysis of EWI annual evaluation reports submitted to ORH. Analysis included cataloguing reported implementation strategies by Reach, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) dimensions (i.e., identifying strategies that were used to support each dimension) and labeling strategies using ERIC taxonomy. Descriptive statistics were conducted to summarize data., Principal Findings: A total of 875 implementation strategies were catalogued in 73 reports. Across these strategies, 66 unique ERIC strategies were reported. EWIs applied an average of 12 implementation strategies (range 3-22). The top three ERIC clusters across all 3 years were Develop stakeholder relationships (21%), Use evaluative/iterative strategies (20%), and Train/educate stakeholders (19%). Most strategies were reported within the Implementation dimension. Strategy use among EWIs meeting the rurality benchmark were also compared., Conclusions: Combining the dimensions from the RE-AIM framework and the ERIC strategies allows for understanding the use of implementation strategies across each RE-AIM dimension. This analysis will support ORH efforts to spread and sustain rural health innovations and evidence-based programs and practices through targeted implementation strategies., (Published 2024. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA. Health Services Research published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Health Research and Educational Trust.)

Introduction: Substantial variation exists in telemedicine critical care (Tele-CC) effectiveness, which may be explained by heterogeneity in Tele-CC implementation and utilization., Methods: We studied inpatient intensive care unit (ICU) admissions within the Veterans Health Administration from January 2005 to September 2018. Tele-CC affiliation was based on a facility's Tele-CC go-live date. Tele-CC interaction was quantified as the monthly number of video activations, recorded in the eCaremanager® (Phillips) system, per patient days. Tele-CC affiliated facilities were propensity-score matched to facilities without Tele-CC by hospital volume and average modified APACHE scores. We examined the effect of Tele-CC affiliation and the quantity of video interactions between Tele-CC and bedside on hospital outcomes., Results: Comparing Tele-CC affiliated and control facilities, affiliated patients were, on average, younger (66.8 years vs 67.8 years; p  < 0.001) and more likely to be rural residents (11.3% vs 6.5%; p  < 0.001). Stratifying the Tele-CC affiliated facilities, facilities with frequent interactions care for more rural and sicker patients relative to facilities with infrequent interactions. Adjusting for patient demographics, facilities in the top tertile of interactions and propensity score matched control facilities were assessed; patients in ICU's with Tele-CC access experienced shorter ICU-specific lengths of stay (RR = 0.39; 95% CI = [0.23, 0.65]). However, when facilities in the bottom tertile and propensity score matched control facilities were assessed, no significant differences were noted in ICU length of stay., Discussion: Tele-CC interactions may occur more frequently for higher acuity patients. Increased Tele-CC interactions may improve health outcomes for the most acute and complex ICU cases., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe authors declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Dr Fortis has received grants from American Thoracic Society and Fisher & Paykel and has consulted Genentech. The rest of the authors have nothing to declare.

Objectives: For patients requiring transfer to a higher level of care, excellent interfacility communication is essential. Our objective was to characterize verbal handoffs for urgent interfacility transfers of children to the PICU and compare these characteristics with known elements of high-quality intrahospital shift-to-shift handoffs., Design: Mixed methods retrospective study of audio-recorded referral calls between referring clinicians and receiving PICU physicians for urgent interfacility PICU transfers., Setting: Academic tertiary referral PICU., Patients: Children 0-18 years old admitted to a single PICU following interfacility transfer over a 4-month period (October 2019 to January 2020)., Interventions: None., Measurements and Main Results: We reviewed interfacility referral phone calls for 49 patients. Referral calls between clinicians lasted a median of 9.7 minutes (interquartile range, 6.8-14.5 min). Most referring clinicians provided information on history (96%), physical examination (94%), test results (94%), and interventions (98%). Fewer clinicians provided assessments of illness severity (87%) or code status (19%). Seventy-seven percent of referring clinicians and 6% of receiving PICU physicians stated the working diagnosis. Only 9% of PICU physicians summarized information received. Interfacility handoffs usually involved: 1) indirect references to illness severity and diagnosis rather than explicit discussions, 2) justifications for PICU admission, 3) statements communicating and addressing uncertainty, and 4) statements indicating the referring hospital's reliance on PICU resources. Interfacility referral communication was similar to intrahospital shift-to-shift handoffs with some key differences: 1) use of contextual information for appropriate PICU triage, 2) difference in expertise between communicating clinicians, and 3) reliance of referring clinicians and PICU physicians on each other for accurate information and medical/transport guidance., Conclusions: Interfacility PICU referral communication shared characteristics with intrahospital shift-to-shift handoffs; however, communication did not adhere to known elements of high-quality handovers. Structured tools specific to PICU interfacility referral communication must be developed and investigated for effectiveness in improving communication and patient outcomes., Competing Interests: Dr. Landrigan has consulted with and holds equity in the Illness severity, Patient summary, Action list, Situation awareness, Synthesis by receiver (I-PASS) Institute, which seeks to train institutions in best handoff practices and aid in their implementation. He has consulted with the Missouri Hospital Association/Executive Speaker’s Bureau regarding I-PASS. In addition, Dr. Landrigan has received monetary awards, honoraria, and travel reimbursement from multiple academic and professional organizations for teaching and consulting on sleep deprivation, physician performance, handoffs, and safety, and he has served as an expert witness in cases regarding patient safety and sleep deprivation. Dr. Singh is funded in part by the Houston Veterans Administration (VA) Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness, and Safety (CIN13–413), the VA National Center for Patient Safety, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (R01HS028595 and R18 HS029347) . Drs. Thirnbeck’s, Espinoza’s, Herwaldt’s, Landrigan’s, and Cifra’s and Ms. Beaman’s institutions received funding from the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Drs. Thirnbeck, Espinoza, Dukes, Herwaldt, Landrigan, and Cifra and Ms. Beaman received support for article research from the NIH. Drs. Beaman and Cifra received funding from De Gruyter and MedStar Health Research Institute. Dr. Dukes’ institution received funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (No. HD027748-28). Dr. Herwaldt received funding from the I-PASS Institute and Malpractice Law Firms. The remaining authors have disclosed that they do not have any potential conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies.)

Background: Miscommunication during interfacility handoffs to a higher level of care can harm critically ill children. Adapting evidence-based handoff interventions to interfacility referral communication may prevent adverse events. The objective of this project was to develop and evaluate a standard electronic referral template (I-PASS-to-PICU) to improve communication for interfacility pediatric ICU (PICU) transfers., Methods: I-PASS-to-PICU was iteratively developed in a single PICU. A core PICU stakeholder group collaboratively designed an electronic health record (EHR)-supported clinical note template by adapting elements from I-PASS, an evidence-based handoff program, to support information exchange between referring clinicians and receiving PICU physicians. I-PASS-to-PICU is a receiver-driven tool used by PICU physicians to guide verbal communication and electronic documentation during PICU transfer calls. The template underwent three cycles of iterative evaluation and redesign informed by individual and group interviews of multidisciplinary PICU staff, usability testing using simulated and actual referral calls, and debriefing with PICU physicians., Results: Individual and group interviews with 21 PICU staff members revealed that relevant, accurate, and concise information was needed for adequate admission preparedness. Time constraints and secondhand information transmission were identified as barriers. Usability testing with six receiving PICU physicians using simulated and actual calls revealed good usability on the validated System Usability Scale (SUS), with a mean score of 77.5 (standard deviation 10.9). Fellows indicated that most fields were relevant and that the template was feasible to use., Conclusion: I-PASS-to-PICU was technically feasible, usable, and relevant. The authors plan to further evaluate its effectiveness in improving information exchange during real-time PICU practice., (Copyright © 2024 The Joint Commission. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Importance: Acute kidney injury (AKI) complicates 20% to 25% of hospital admissions and is associated with long-term mortality, especially from cardiovascular disease. Lower systolic blood pressure (SBP) following AKI may be associated with lower mortality, but potentially at the cost of higher short-term complications., Objective: To determine associations of SBP with mortality and hospital readmissions following AKI, and to determine whether time from discharge affects these associations., Design, Setting, and Participants: This retrospective cohort study of adults with AKI during a hospitalization in Veteran Healthcare Association (VHA) hospitals was conducted between January 2013 and December 2018. Patients with 1 year or less of data within the VA system prior to admission, severe or end-stage liver disease, stage 4 or 5 chronic kidney disease, end-stage kidney disease, metastatic cancer, and no blood pressure values within 30 days of discharge were excluded. Data analysis was conducted from May 2022 to February 2024., Exposure: SBP was treated as time-dependent (categorized as <120 mm Hg, 120-129 mm Hg, 130-139 mm Hg, 140-149 mm Hg, 150-159 mm Hg, and ≥160 mm Hg [comparator]). Time spent in each SBP category was accumulated over time and represented in 30-day increments., Main Outcomes and Measures: Primary outcomes were time to mortality and time to all-cause hospital readmission. Cox proportional hazards regression was adjusted for demographics, comorbidities, and laboratory values. To evaluate associations over time, hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated at 60 days, 90 days, 120 days, 180 days, 270 days, and 365 days from discharge., Results: Of 237 409 admissions with AKI, 80 960 (57 242 aged 65 years or older [70.7%]; 77 965 male [96.3%] and 2995 female [3.7%]) were included. The cohort had high rates of diabetes (16 060 patients [20.0%]), congestive heart failure (22 516 patients [28.1%]), and chronic lung disease (27 682 patients [34.2%]), and 1-year mortality was 15.9% (12 876 patients). Overall, patients with SBP between 130 and 139 mm Hg had the most favorable risk level for mortality and readmission. There were clear, time-dependent mediations on associations in all groups. Compared with patients with SBP of 160 mm Hg or greater, the risk of mortality for patients with SBP between 130 and 139 mm Hg decreased between 60 days (adjusted HR, 1.20; 99% CI, 1.00-1.44) and 365 days (adjusted HR, 0.58; 99% CI, 0.45-0.76). SBP less than 120 mm Hg was associated with increased risk of mortality at all time points., Conclusions and Relevance: In this retrospective cohort study of post-AKI patients, there were important time-dependent mediations of the association of blood pressure with mortality and readmission. These findings may inform timing of post-AKI blood pressure treatment.

Background: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Rural Health (ORH) supports national VA program offices' efforts to expand health care to rural Veterans through its Enterprise-Wide Initiatives (EWIs) program. In 2017, ORH selected Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM), an implementation science framework, to structure the EWI evaluation and reporting process. As part of its mandate to improve EWI program evaluation, the Center for the Evaluation of Enterprise-Wide Initiatives conducted a qualitative evaluation to better understand EWI team' perceptions of, and barriers and facilitators to, the EWI evaluation process., Methods: We conducted 43 semi-structured interviews with 48 team members (e.g., evaluators, program office leads, and field-based leads) representing 21 EWIs from April-December 2020. Questions focused on participants' experiences using strategies targeting each RE-AIM dimension. Interviews were inductively analyzed in MAXQDA. We also systematically reviewed 51 FY19-FY20 EWI annual reports to identify trends in misapplications of RE-AIM., Results: Participants had differing levels of experience with RE-AIM. While participants understood ORH's rationale for selecting a common framework to structure evaluations, the perceived misalignment between RE-AIM and EWIs' work emerged as an important theme. Concerns centered around 3 sub-themes: (1) (Mis)Alignment with RE-AIM Dimensions , (2) (Mis)Alignment between RE-AIM and the EWI , and (3) (Mis)Alignment with RE-AIM vs. other Theories, Models, or Frameworks . Participants described challenges differentiating between and operationalizing dimensions in unique contexts. Participants also had misconceptions about RE-AIM and its relevance to their work, e.g., that it was meant for established programs and did not capture aspects of initiative planning, adaptations, or sustainability. Less commonly, participants shared alternative models or frameworks to RE-AIM. Despite criticisms, many participants found RE-AIM useful, cited training as important to understanding its application, and identified additional training as a future need., Discussion: The selection of a shared implementation science framework can be beneficial, but also challenging when applied to diverse initiatives or contexts. Our findings suggest that establishing a common understanding, operationalizing framework dimensions for specific programs, and assessing training needs may better equip partners to integrate a shared framework into their evaluations., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2024 Chasco, Van Tiem, Johnson, Balkenende, Steffen, Jones, Friberg, Steffensmeier, Moeckli, Arora, Rabin and Reisinger.)

Background: Environmental cleaning is important in the interruption of pathogen transmission. Although prevention initiatives have targeted environmental cleaning, practice variations exist and compliance is low. Evaluation of human factors influencing variations in cleaning practices can be valuable in developing interventions to standardized practices. We conducted a work-system analysis using a human-factors engineering (HFE) framework to identify barriers and facilitators to environmental cleaning practices in acute and long-term care settings within the Veterans' Affairs health system., Methods: We conducted a qualitative study with key stakeholders at 3 VA facilities. We analyzed transcripts for thematic content and mapped themes to the HFE framework., Results: Staffing consistency was felt to improve cleaning practices and teamwork. We found that many environmental management service (EMS) staff were veterans who were motivated to serve fellow veterans, especially to prevent infections. However, hiring veterans comes with regulatory hurdles that affect staffing. Sites reported some form of monitoring their cleaning process, but there was variation in method and frequency. The EMS workload was affected by whether rooms were occupied by patients or were semiprivate rooms; both were reportedly more difficult to clean. Room design and surface finishes were identified as important to cleaning efficiency., Conclusion: HFE work analysis identified barriers and facilitators to environmental cleaning. These findings highlight intervention entry points that may facilitate standardized work practices. There is a need to develop task-specific procedures such as cleaning occupied beds and semiprivate rooms. Future research should evaluate interventions that address these determinants of environmental cleaning.

Introduction: Older adults often have multiple comorbidities; therefore, they are at high risk for adverse events after discharge. The 4Ms framework-what matters, medications, mentation, mobility-has been used in acute and ambulatory care settings to identify risk factors for adverse events in older adults, although it has not been used in the emergency department (ED). We aimed to determine whether 1) use of the 4Ms worksheet would help emergency clinicians understand older adult patients' goals of care and 2) use of the worksheet was feasible in the ED., Methods: We conducted a qualitative, descriptive study among patients aged ≥60 years and emergency clinicians from January-June 2022. Patients were asked to fill out a 4Ms worksheet; following this, semi-structured interviews were conducted with patients and clinicians separately. We analysed data to create codes, which were divided into categories and sub-categories., Results: A total of 20 older patients and 19 emergency clinicians were interviewed. We identified two categories based on our aims: understanding patient goals of care (sub-categories: clinician/ patient concordance; understanding underlying goals of care; underlying goals of care discrepancy) and use of 4Ms Worksheet (sub-categories: worksheet to discussion discrepancy; challenges using worksheet; challenge completing worksheet before discharge). Rates of concordance between patient and clinician on main concern/goal of care and underlying goals of care were 82.4% and 15.4%, respectively., Conclusion: We found that most patients and emergency clinicians agreed on the main goal of care, although clinicians often failed to elicit patients' underlying goal(s) of care. Additionally, many patients preferred to have the interviewer fill out the worksheet for them. There was often discrepancy between what was written and what was discussed with the interviewer. More research is needed to determine the best way to integrate the 4Ms framework within emergency care., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: By the WestJEM article submission agreement, all authors are required to disclose all affiliations, funding sources and financial or management relationships that could be perceived as potential sources of bias. No author has professional or financial relationships with any companies that are relevant to this study. There are no conflicts of interest or sources of funding to declare.

Background: This study's goal is to identify the existing variation in how, why, and by whom anthropological practice is conducted as part of implementation science projects. As doctorally trained anthropologists, we sought to characterize how and why the term "ethnography" was variously applied in the implementation science literature and characterize the practice of anthropology within and across the field., Methods: While we follow the PRISMA-ScR checklist, we present the work with a narrative approach to accurately reflect our review process. A health services librarian developed a search strategy using subject headings and keywords for the following databases: PubMed, Embase (Elsevier), Cochrane CENTRAL (Wiley), CIHAHL (EBSCO), PsycINFO (EBSCO), Web of Science Core Collection, and Anthropology Plus (EBSCO). We focused on the practice of anthropology in implementation research conducted in a healthcare setting, in English, with no date restrictions. Studies were included if they applied one or several elements of anthropological methods in terms of study design, data collection, and/or analysis., Results: The database searches produced 3450 results combined after duplicates were removed, which were added to Rayyan for two rounds of screening by title and abstract. A total of 487 articles were included in the full-text screening. Of these, 227 were included and received data extraction that we recorded and analyzed with descriptive statistics in three main domains: (1) anthropological methods; (2) implementation science methods; and (3) study context. We found the use of characteristic tools of anthropology like ethnography and field notes are usually not systematically described but often mentioned. Further, we found that research design decisions and compromises (e.g., length of time in the field, logistics of stakeholder involvement, reconciling diverse firsthand experiences) that often impact anthropological approaches are not systematically described., Conclusions: Anthropological work often supports larger, mixed-methods implementation projects without being thoroughly reported. Context is essential to anthropological practice and implicitly fundamental to implementation research, yet the goals of anthropology and how its practice informs larger research projects are often not explicitly stated., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Surgical-site infections (SSIs) can be catastrophic. Bundles of evidence-based practices can reduce SSIs but can be difficult to implement and sustain., Objective: We sought to understand the implementation of SSI prevention bundles in 6 US hospitals., Design: Qualitative study., Methods: We conducted in-depth semistructured interviews with personnel involved in bundle implementation and conducted a thematic analysis of the transcripts., Setting: The study was conducted in 6 US hospitals: 2 academic tertiary-care hospitals, 3 academic-affiliated community hospitals, 1 unaffiliated community hospital., Participants: In total, 30 hospital personnel participated. Participants included surgeons, laboratory directors, clinical personnel, and infection preventionists., Results: Bundle complexity impeded implementation. Other barriers varied across services, even within the same hospital. Multiple strategies were needed, and successful strategies in one service did not always apply in other areas. However, early and sustained interprofessional collaboration facilitated implementation., Conclusions: The evidence-based SSI bundle is complicated and can be difficult to implement. One implementation process probably will not work for all settings. Multiple strategies were needed to overcome contextual and implementation barriers that varied by setting and implementation climate. Appropriate adaptations for specific settings and populations may improve bundle adoption, fidelity, acceptability, and sustainability.

Introduction: Parents of children with cancer describe interactions with clinicians as emotionally distressing. Patient engagement in treatment discussions decreases decisional conflict and improves decision quality which may limit such distress. We have shown that parents prefer to engage surgeons by asking questions, but parents may not know what to ask. Question Prompt Lists (QPLs), structured lists of questions designed to help patients ask important questions, have not been studied in pediatric surgery. We developed a QPL designed to empower parents to ask meaningful questions during pediatric surgical oncology discussions. We conducted a mixed methods analysis to assess the acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of using the QPL., Methods: Key stakeholders at an academic children's hospital participated in focus groups to discuss the QPL. Focus groups were recorded and transcribed. Participants were surveyed regarding QPL acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility. Thematic content analysis of transcripts was performed., Results: Four parents, five nurses, five nurse practitioners, five oncologists, and four surgeons participated. Seven key themes were identified: (1) QPL as a tool of empowerment; (2) stick to the surgical details; (3) QPLs can impact discussion quality; (4) time consuming, but not overly disruptive; (5) parental emotion may impact QPL use; (6) provide QPLs prior to surgical consultation in both print and digital formats; and (7) expansion of QPLs to other disciplines. Over 70% of participants agreed that the QPL was acceptable, appropriate, and feasible., Conclusions: Our novel QPL is acceptable, appropriate, and feasible to use with parents of pediatric surgical oncology patients., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Healthcare personnel (HCP) may encounter unfamiliar personal protective equipment (PPE) during clinical duties, yet we know little about their doffing strategies in such situations., Objective: To better understand how HCP navigate encounters with unfamiliar PPE and the factors that influence their doffing strategies., Setting: The study was conducted at 2 Midwestern academic hospitals., Participants: The study included 70 HCP: 24 physicians and resident physicians, 31 nurses, 5 medical or nursing students, and 10 other staff. Among them, 20 had special isolation unit training., Methods: Participants completed 1 of 4 doffing simulation scenarios involving 3 mask designs, 2 gown designs, 2 glove designs, and a full PPE ensemble. Doffing simulations were video-recorded and reviewed with participants during think-aloud interviews. Interviews were audio-recorded and analyzed using thematic analysis., Results: Participants identified familiarity with PPE items and designs as an important factor in doffing. When encountering unfamiliar PPE, participants cited aspects of their routine practices such as designs typically used, donning and doffing frequency, and design cues, and their training as impacting their doffing strategies. Furthermore, they identified nonintuitive design and lack of training as barriers to doffing unfamiliar PPE appropriately., Conclusion: PPE designs may not be interchangeable, and their use may not be intuitive. HCP drew on routine practices, experiences with familiar PPE, and training to adapt doffing strategies for unfamiliar PPE. In doing so, HCP sometimes deviated from best practices meant to prevent self-contamination. Hospital policies and procedures should include ongoing and/or just-in-time training to ensure HCP are equipped to doff different PPE designs encountered during clinical care.

Background: User modifications are common in evidence-based psychosocial interventions (EBPIs) for mental health disorders. Often, EBPIs fit poorly into clinical workflows, require extensive resources, or pose considerable burden to patients and therapists. Implementation science is increasingly researching ways to improve the usability of EBPIs before implementation. A user-centered design can be used to support implementation methods to prioritize user needs and solutions to improve EBPI usability., Objective: Trauma-focused EBPIs are a first-line treatment for patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Written exposure therapy (WET) is a brief, trauma-focused EBPI wherein patients handwrite about trauma associated with their PTSD. Initially developed for in-person delivery, WET is increasingly being delivered remotely, and outcomes appear to be equivalent to in-person delivery. However, there are logistical issues in delivering WET via video. In this evaluation, we explored usability issues related to WET telehealth delivery via videoconferencing software and designed a solution for therapist-facing challenges to systematize WET telehealth delivery., Methods: The Discover, Design and Build, and Test framework guided this formative evaluation and served to inform a larger Virtual Care Quality Enhancement Research Initiative. We used qualitative descriptive methods in the Discover phase to understand the experiences and needs of 2 groups of users providing care within the Department of Veterans Affairs: in-person therapists delivering WET via video because of the COVID-19 pandemic and telehealth therapists who regularly deliver PTSD therapies. We then used user-centered design methods in the Design and Build phase to brainstorm, develop, and iteratively refine potential workflows to address identified usability issues. All procedures were conducted remotely., Results: In the Discover phase, both groups had challenges delivering WET and other PTSD therapies via telehealth because of technology issues with videoconferencing software, environmental distractions, and workflow disruptions. Narrative transfer (ie, patients sending handwritten trauma accounts to therapists) was the first target for design solution development as it was deemed most critical to WET delivery. In the Design and Build phase, we identified design constraints and brainstormed solution ideas. This led to the development of 3 solution workflows that were presented to a subgroup of therapist users through cognitive walkthroughs. Meetings with this subgroup allowed workflow refinement to improve narrative transfers. Finally, to facilitate using these workflows, we developed PDF manuals that are being refined in subsequent phases of the implementation project (not mentioned in this paper)., Conclusions: The Discover, Design and Build, and Test framework can be a useful tool for understanding user needs in complex EBPI interventions and designing solutions to user-identified usability issues. Building on this work, an iterative evaluation of the 3 solution workflows and accompanying manuals with therapists and patients is underway as part of a nationwide WET implementation in telehealth settings., (©Megan Moldestad, Valentina V Petrova, Katie Tirtanadi, Sonali R Mishra, Suparna Rajan, George Sayre, John C Fortney, Heather Schacht Reisinger. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 06.11.2023.)

Objectives: Effective interventions to prevent diagnostic error among critically ill children should be informed by diagnostic error prevalence and etiologies. We aimed to determine the prevalence and characteristics of diagnostic errors and identify factors associated with error in patients admitted to the PICU., Design: Multicenter retrospective cohort study using structured medical record review by trained clinicians using the Revised Safer Dx instrument to identify diagnostic error (defined as missed opportunities in diagnosis). Cases with potential errors were further reviewed by four pediatric intensivists who made final consensus determinations of diagnostic error occurrence. Demographic, clinical, clinician, and encounter data were also collected., Setting: Four academic tertiary-referral PICUs., Patients: Eight hundred eighty-two randomly selected patients 0-18 years old who were nonelectively admitted to participating PICUs., Interventions: None., Measurements and Main Results: Of 882 patient admissions, 13 (1.5%) had a diagnostic error up to 7 days after PICU admission. Infections (46%) and respiratory conditions (23%) were the most common missed diagnoses. One diagnostic error caused harm with a prolonged hospital stay. Common missed diagnostic opportunities included failure to consider the diagnosis despite a suggestive history (69%) and failure to broaden diagnostic testing (69%). Unadjusted analysis identified more diagnostic errors in patients with atypical presentations (23.1% vs 3.6%, p = 0.011), neurologic chief complaints (46.2% vs 18.8%, p = 0.024), admitting intensivists greater than or equal to 45 years old (92.3% vs 65.1%, p = 0.042), admitting intensivists with more service weeks/year (mean 12.8 vs 10.9 wk, p = 0.031), and diagnostic uncertainty on admission (77% vs 25.1%, p < 0.001). Generalized linear mixed models determined that atypical presentation (odds ratio [OR] 4.58; 95% CI, 0.94-17.1) and diagnostic uncertainty on admission (OR 9.67; 95% CI, 2.86-44.0) were significantly associated with diagnostic error., Conclusions: Among critically ill children, 1.5% had a diagnostic error up to 7 days after PICU admission. Diagnostic errors were associated with atypical presentations and diagnostic uncertainty on admission, suggesting possible targets for intervention., Competing Interests: Drs. Cifra, Smith, Riffe, Landrigan, and Dawson’s institutions received funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development through a K12 grant to the University of Iowa Stead Family Department of Pediatrics (no. HD027748-28) and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. Drs. Cifra, KA Smith, Riffe, Landrigan, Dawson, and Herwaldt’s institutions received funding from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) through a K08 grant (no. HS026965). This work was further supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (no. UL1TR002537) through the University of Iowa’s Institute for Clinical and Translational Science. Dr. Cifra received funding from the AHRQ, MedStar Research Institute, and De Gruyter. Drs. Cifra, CM Smith, KA Smith, Riffe, Ten Eyck, Landrigan, and Dawson received support for article research from the National Institutes of Health. Drs. Custer and Tumulty’s institution received funding from University of Iowa. Dr. Miller’s institution received funding from the University of Iowa Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Landrigan received funding from I-PASS Institute and Missouri Hospital Association Executive Speakers Bureau. Dr. Singh is funded in part by the Houston Veterans Administration (VA) Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness, and Safety (CIN13–413), the VA HSR&D Service (IIR17–127 and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers USA 14–274), the VA National Center for Patient Safety, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (R01HS27363), and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. He disclosed government work. Dr. Herwaldt’s institution received funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; she disclosed that Professional Disposables International, Inc. (PDI) is providing a product for a clinical trial. The remaining authors have disclosed that they do not have any potential conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Importance: Current guidelines require hand hygiene before donning nonsterile gloves, but evidence to support this requirement is lacking., Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a direct-gloving policy on adherence to infection prevention practices in a hospital setting., Design, Setting, and Participants: This mixed-method, multicenter, cluster randomized clinical trial was conducted at 4 academic centers in Baltimore, Maryland, or Iowa City, Iowa, from January 1, 2016, to November 30, 2017. Data analysis was completed April 25, 2019. Participants were 3790 health care personnel (HCP) across 13 hospital units., Intervention: Hospital units were randomly assigned to direct gloving, with hand hygiene not required before donning gloves (intervention), or to usual care (hand hygiene before donning nonsterile gloves)., Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was adherence to the expected practice at room entry and exit. A random sample of HCPs' gloved hands were imprinted on agar plates at entry to contact precautions rooms. The intention-to-treat approach was followed, and all analyses were conducted at the level of the participating unit. Primary and secondary outcomes between treatment groups were assessed using generalized estimating equations with an unstructured working correlation matrix to adjust for clustering; multivariate analysis using generalized estimating equations was conducted to adjust for covariates, including baseline adherence., Results: In total, 13 hospital units participated in the trial, and 3790 HCP were observed. Adherence to expected practice was greater in the 6 units with the direct-gloving intervention than in the 7 usual care units (1297 of 1491 [87%] vs 954 of 2299 [41%]; P < .001) even when controlling for baseline hand hygiene rates, unit type, and universal gloving policies (risk ratio [RR], 1.76; 95% CI, 1.58-1.97). Glove use on entry to contact precautions rooms was also higher in the direct-gloving units (1297 of 1491 [87%] vs 1530 of 2299 [67%]; P = .008. The intervention had no effect on hand hygiene adherence measured at entry to non-contact precautions rooms (951 of 1315 [72%] for usual care vs 1111 of 1688 [66%] for direct gloving; RR, 1.00 [95% CI, 0.91-1.10]) or at room exit (1587 of 1897 [84%] for usual care vs 1525 of 1785 [85%] for direct gloving; RR, 0.98 [95% CI, 0.91-1.07]). The intervention was associated with increased total bacteria colony counts (adjusted incidence RR, 7.13; 95% CI, 3.95-12.85) and greater detection of pathogenic bacteria (adjusted incidence RR, 10.18; 95% CI, 2.13-44.94) on gloves in the emergency department and reduced colony counts in pediatrics units (adjusted incidence RR, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.19-0.63), with no change in either total colony count (RR, 0.87 [95% CI, 0.60 to 1.25] for adult intensive care unit; RR, 0.59 [95% CI, 0.31-1.10] for hemodialysis unit) or presence of pathogenic bacteria (RR, 0.93 [95% CI, 0.40-2.14] for adult intensive care unit; RR, 0.55 [95% CI, 0.15-2.04] for hemodialysis unit) in the other units., Conclusions and Relevance: Current guidelines require hand hygiene before donning nonsterile gloves, but evidence to support this requirement is lacking. The findings from this cluster randomized clinical trial indicate that a direct-gloving strategy without prior hand hygiene should be considered by health care facilities., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03119389.

Background: Ninety percent of parents of pediatric oncology patients report distressing, emotionally burdensome healthcare interactions. Assuring supportive, informative treatment discussions may limit parental distress. Here, we interview parents of pediatric surgical oncology patients to better understand parental preferences for surgical counseling., Methods: We interviewed 10 parents of children who underwent solid tumor resection at a university-based, tertiary children's hospital regarding their preferences for surgical discussions. Thematic content analysis of interview transcripts was performed using deductive and inductive methods., Results: Three main themes were identified: (1) the emotional burden of a pediatric cancer diagnosis; (2) complexities of treatment discussions; (3) collaborative engagement between parents and surgeons. Within the collaborative engagement theme, there were four sub-themes: (1) variable informational needs; (2) parents as advocates; (3) parents as gatekeepers of information delivery to their children, family, friends, and community; (4) parental receptivity to structured guidance to support treatment discussions. Two cross-cutting themes were identified: (1) perception that no treatment decision needed to be made regarding surgery and (2) reliance on diverse support resources., Conclusions: Parents feel discussions with surgeons promote informed involvement in their child's care, but they recognize that there may be few decisions to make regarding surgery. Even when parents perceive that there are there are no decisions to make, they prioritize asking questions to advocate for their children. The emotional burden of a cancer diagnosis often prevents parents from knowing what questions to ask. Merging this data with our prior pediatric surgeon interviews will facilitate development of a novel decision support tool that can empower parents to ask meaningful questions., Level of Evidence: III., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

An effectiveness trial found that telemedicine collaborative care for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) significantly increased engagement in trauma-focused psychotherapy (TFP) and improved PTSD symptoms. However, in a subsequent implementation trial, very few veterans enrolled in collaborative care initiated TFP. We conducted a mixed-methods evaluation to determine why veterans did not initiate TFP in the implementation trial. After conducting chart reviews of 1,071 veterans with PTSD enrolled in collaborative care, patients were categorized into four mutually exclusive TFP groups: TFP not discussed; TFP discussed, declined; TFP discussed, did not decline; and TFP initiated. We conducted semistructured interviews with 43 unique patients and 58 unique providers (i.e., care managers and mental health specialists). Almost half (48.6%) of the veterans had no documentation of discussing TFP with their care manager; another 28.9% discussed it but declined. Most veterans (77.1%) had an encounter with a mental health specialist, 36.8% of whom never discussed TFP, and 35.7% of whom discussed it but declined. Providers reported that many veterans were not able, willing, or ready to engage in TFP and that non-trauma-focused therapies were better aligned with their treatment goals. Veterans gave numerous reasons for not initiating TFP, including having bad prior experiences with TFP and wanting to avoid thinking about past traumatic experiences. Commonly cited reasons for noninitiation were providers never discussing TFP with veterans and veterans declining TFP after discussing it with their provider. Interventions, such as shared decision-making tools, may be needed to engage providers and patients in informed discussions about TFP., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Traumatic Stress published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.)

Background: We sought to identify what matters to older adults (60 years and older) presenting to the emergency department (ED) and the challenges or concerns they identify related to medication, mobility, and mentation to inform how the 4Ms framework could improve care of older adults in the ED setting., Methods: A qualitative study was conducted using the 4Ms to identify what matters to older adults (≥60 years old) presenting to the ED and what challenges or concerns they identify related to medication, mobility, and mentation. We conducted semi-structured interviews with a convenience sample of patients in a single ED. Interview guide responses and interviewer field notes were entered into REDCap. Interviews were reviewed by the research team (2 coders per interview) who inductively assigned codes. A codebook was created through an iterative process and was used to group codes into themes and sub-themes within the 4Ms framework., Results: A total of 20 ED patients participated in the interviews lasting 30-60 minutes. Codes identified for "what matters" included problem-oriented expectation, coordination and continuity, staying engaged, being with family, and getting back home. Codes related to the other 4Ms (medication, mobility, and mentation) described challenges. Medication challenges included: non-adherence, side effects, polypharmacy, and knowledge. Mobility challenges included physical activity and independence. Last, mentation challenges included memory concerns, depressed mood, and stress and worry., Conclusions: Our study used the 4Ms to identify "what matters" to older adults presenting to the ED and the challenges they face regarding medication, mobility, and mentation. Understanding what matters to patients and the specific challenges they face can help shape and individualize a patient-centered approach to care to facilitate the goals of care discussion and handoff to the next care team., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2023 The Authors. JACEP Open published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American College of Emergency Physicians.)

Objective: Hypertension is the most common risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Several guidelines have lowered diagnostic blood pressure (BP) thresholds and treatment targets for hypertension. We evaluated the impact of the more stringent guidelines among Veterans, a population at high risk of CVD., Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of Veterans with at least two office BP measurements between January 2016 and December 2017. Prevalent hypertension was defined as diagnostic codes related to hypertension, prescribed antihypertensive drugs, or office BP values according to the BP cutoffs at least 140/90 mmHg (Joint National Committee 7 [JNC 7]), at least 130/80 mmHg [American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA)], or the 2020 Veterans Health Administration (VHA) guideline (BP ≥130/90 mmHg). Uncontrolled BP was defined per the VHA guideline as mean SBP ≥130 mmHg or DBP ≥90 mmHg., Results: The prevalence of hypertension increased from 71% for BP at least 140/90 to 81% for BP at least 130/90 mmHg and further to 87% for BP at least 130/80 mmHg. Among Veterans with known hypertension ( n  = 2 768 826), a majority [ n  = 1 818 951 (66%)] were considered to have uncontrolled BP per the VHA guideline. Lowering the treatment targets for SBP and DBP significantly increased the number of Veterans who would require initiation of or intensification of pharmacotherapy. The majority of Veterans with uncontrolled BP and at least one CVD risk factor remained uncontrolled after 5 years of follow-up., Conclusion: Lowering the BP diagnostic and treatment cutoffs increases the burden on healthcare systems significantly. Targeted interventions are needed to achieve the BP treatment goals.

Background: Acute kidney injury is prevalent among hospitalized veterans, and associated with increased risk of death following discharge. However, risk factors for death following acute kidney injury have not been well defined. We developed a mortality prediction model using Veterans Health Administration data., Methods: This retrospective cohort study included inpatients from 2013 through 2018 with a creatinine increase of ≥0.3 mg/dL. We evaluated 45 variables for inclusion in our final model, with a primary outcome of 1-year mortality. Bootstrap sampling with replacement was used to identify variables selected in >60% of models using stepwise selection. Best sub-sets regression using Akaike information criteria was used to identify the best-fitting parsimonious model., Results: A total of 182,683 patients were included, and 38,940 (21.3%) died within 1 year of discharge. The 10-variable model to predict mortality included age, chronic lung disease, cancer within 5 years, unexplained weight loss, dementia, congestive heart failure, hematocrit, blood urea nitrogen, bilirubin, and albumin. Notably, acute kidney injury stage, chronic kidney disease, discharge creatinine, and proteinuria were not selected for inclusion. C-statistics in the primary validation cohorts were 0.77 for the final parsimonious model, compared with 0.52 for acute kidney injury stage alone., Conclusion: We identified risk factors for long-term mortality following acute kidney injury. Our 10-variable model did not include traditional renal variables, suggesting that non-kidney factors contribute to the risk of death more than measures of kidney disease in this population, a finding that may have implications for post-acute kidney injury care., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: In our prior analysis of parental preferences for discussions with pediatric surgeons, we identified that parents prefer more guidance from surgeons when discussing cancer surgery, emergency surgery, or surgery for infants, and they prefer to engage surgeons by asking questions. In this study, we investigate surgeon preferences for decision making discussions in pediatric surgery., Methods: We conducted a thematic content analysis of interviews of pediatric surgeons regarding their preferences for discussing surgery with parents. Board certified/board eligible pediatric surgeons who had been in practice for at least one year and spoke English were eligible. Fifteen surgeons were invited, and twelve 30-minute semi-structured interviews were completed (80%). Interviews were recorded and transcribed. Thematic content analysis was performed using deductive and inductive methods., Results: Data saturation was achieved after 12 interviews [6 women (50%), median years in practice 6.25, 10 in academic practice (83%), 8 from Midwest (67%)]. 5 themes emerged: (1) Collaboration to promote parental engagement; (2) "Cancer is distinct but not unique;" (3) "Read the room:" tailoring discussions to specific parental needs; (4) Perceived role of the surgeon; (5) Limited experience with decision support tools in pediatric surgery., Conclusions: Pediatric surgeons prefer a collaborative approach to counseling that engages parents through education. They prioritize tailoring discussions to meet parental needs. Few have utilized decision support tools, however most expressed interest. Insight gained from our work will guide development of a decision support tool that empowers parental participation in counseling for pediatric surgery., Level of Evidence: III., Competing Interests: Declarations of Interest None., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Shared decision-making, with an emphasis on patient autonomy, is often advised in healthcare decision-making. However, this may be difficult to implement in emergent settings. We have previously demonstrated that when considering emergent operations for their children, parents prefer surgeon guidance as opposed to shared decision-making. Here, we interviewed parents of paediatric patients who had undergone emergent operations to better understand parental decision-making preferences., Methods: Parents of paediatric patients who underwent surgery over the past 5 years at a University-based, tertiary children's hospital for cancer, an emergent operation while in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) were invited to complete a 60-min semi-structured interview. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic content analysis was performed via deductive and inductive analysis. An iterative approach to thematic sampling/data analysis was used., Results: Thematic saturation was achieved after 12 interviews (4 cancer, 5 NICU and 3 ECMO). Five common themes were identified: (1) recommendations from surgeons are valuable; (2) 'lifesaving mode': parents felt there were no decisions to be made; (3) effective ways of obtaining information about treatment; (4) shared decision-making as a 'dialogue' or 'discussion' and (5) parents as a 'valued voice' to advocate for their children., Conclusions: When engaging in decision-making regarding emergent surgical procedures for their children, parents value a surgeon's recommendation. Parents felt that discussion or dialogue with surgeons defined shared decision-making, and they believed that the opportunity to ask questions gave them a 'valued voice', even when they felt there were no decisions to be made., Patient or Public Contribution: For this study, we interviewed parents of paediatric patients who had undergone emergent operations to better understand parental decision-making preferences. Parents thus provided all the data for the study., (© 2022 The Authors. Health Expectations published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Rates of nephrotoxic AKI are not well described in adults due to lack of a clear definition, debate over which drugs should be considered nephrotoxins, and illness-related confounding. Nephrotoxic Injury Negated by Just-in Time Action (NINJA), a program that reduces rates of nephrotoxic AKI in pediatric populations, may be able to address these concerns, but whether NINJA can be effectively applied to adults remains unclear., Methods: In this retrospective cohort study conducted at the University of Iowa Hospital, we included adult patients admitted to a general hospital floor for ≥48 hours during 2019. The NINJA algorithm screened charts for high nephrotoxin exposure and AKI. After propensity score matching, Cox proportional hazard modeling was used to evaluate the relationship between nephrotoxic exposure and all-stage AKI, stage 2-3 AKI, or death. Additional analyses evaluated the most frequent nephrotoxins used in this population., Results: Of 11,311 patients, 1527 (16%) had ≥1 day of high nephrotoxin exposure. Patients with nephrotoxic exposures subsequently developed AKI in 29% of cases, and 22% of all inpatient AKI events met nephrotoxic AKI criteria. Common nephrotoxins were vancomycin, iodinated contrast dye, piperacillin-tazobactam, acyclovir, and lisinopril. After propensity score matching, Cox proportional hazard models for high nephrotoxin exposure were significantly associated with all AKI (hazard ratio [HR] 1.43, 1.19-1.72, P<0.001), stage 2-3 AKI (HR 1.78, 1.18-2.67, P=0.006), and mortality (HR 2.12, 1.09-4.11, P=0.03)., Conclusions: Nephrotoxin exposure in adults is common and is significantly associated with AKI development, including stage 2-3 AKI., (Copyright © 2023 by the American Society of Nephrology.)

Objectives: To describe daily environmental cleaning and disinfection practices and their associations with cleaning rates while exploring contextual factors experienced by healthcare workers involved in the cleaning process., Methods: A convergent mixed methods approach using quantitative observations (ie, direct observation of environmental service staff performing environmental cleaning using a standardized observation form) and qualitative interviews (ie, semistructured interviews of key healthcare workers) across 3 Veterans Affairs acute and long-term care facilities., Results: Between December 2018 and May 2019 a total of sixty-two room observations (N = 3602 surfaces) were conducted. The average observed surface cleaning rate during daily cleaning in patient rooms was 33.6% for all environmental surfaces and 60.0% for high-touch surfaces (HTS). Higher cleaning rates were observed with bathroom surfaces (Odds Ratio OR = 3.23), HTSs (OR = 1.57), and reusable medical equipment (RME) (OR = 1.40). Lower cleaning rates were observed when cleaning semiprivate rooms (OR = 0.71) and rooms in AC (OR = 0.56). In analysis stratified by patient presence (ie, present, or absent) in the room during cleaning, patient absence was associated with higher cleaning rates for HTSs (OR = 1.71). In addition, the odds that bathroom surfaces being cleaned more frequently than bedroom surfaces decreased (OR = 1.97) as well as the odds that private rooms being cleaned more frequently than semi-private rooms also decreased (OR = 0.26; 0.07-0.93). Between January and June 2019 eighteen qualitative interviews were conducted and found key themes (ie, patient presence and semiprivate rooms) as potential barriers to cleaning; this supports findings from the quantitative analysis., Conclusion: Overall observed rates of daily cleaning of environmental surfaces in both acute and long-term care was low. Standardized environmental cleaning practices to address known barriers, specifically cleaning practices when patients are present in rooms and semi-private rooms are needed to achieve improvements in cleaning rates., (Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: As the population of older adults increases, appropriate deprescribing becomes increasingly important for emergency geriatric care. Older adults represent the sickest patients with chronic medical conditions, and they are often exposed to high-risk medications. We need to provide an evidence-based, standardized deprescribing program in the acute care setting, yet the evidence base is lacking and standardized medication programs are needed., Methods: We conducted a qualitative study with the goal to understand the perspective of healthcare workers, patients, and caregivers on deprescribing high-risk medications in the context of emergency care practices, provider preferences, and practice variability, along with the facilitators and barriers to an effective deprescribing program in the emergency department (ED). To ensure rich, contextual data, the study utilized two qualitative methods: (1) a focus group with physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, pharmacists, and geriatricians involved in care of older adults and their prescriptions in the acute care setting; (2) semi-structured interviews with patients and caregivers involved in treatment and emergency care. Transcriptions were coded using thematic content analysis, and the principal investigator (S.L.) and trained research staff categorized each code into themes., Results: Data collection from a focus group with healthcare workers (n = 8) and semi-structured interviews with patients and caregivers (n = 20) provided evidence of a potentially promising ED medication program, aligned with the vision of comprehensive care of older adults, that can be used to evaluate practices and develop interventions. We identified four themes: (1) Challenges in medication history taking, (2) missed opportunities in identifying high-risk medications, (3) facilitators and barriers to deprescribing recommendations, and (4) how to coordinate deprescribing recommendations., Conclusions: Our focus group and semi-structured interviews resulted in a framework for an ED medication program to screen, identify, and deprescribe high-risk medications for older adults and coordinate their care with primary care providers., (© 2022 The Authors. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The American Geriatrics Society.)

Hand hygiene compliance decreased significantly when opportunities exceeded 30 per hour. At higher workloads, the number of healthcare worker types involved and the proportion of hand hygiene opportunities for which physicians and other healthcare workers were responsible increased. Thus, care complexity and risk to patients may both increase with workload.

As part of a multicenter evidence-based intervention for surgical site infection prevention, a qualitative study was conducted with infection control teams and surgical staff members at three Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare Systems in the USA. This study aimed to identify strategies used by nurses and other facility champions for the implementation of a nasal decolonization intervention. Site visit observations and field notes provided contextual information. Interview data were analyzed with inductive and deductive content analysis. Interview data was mapped to the Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC) compilation of implementation strategies. These strategies were then considered in the context of power and relationships as factors that influence implementation. We found that implementation of this evidence-based surgical site infection prevention intervention was successful when nurse champions drove the day-to-day implementation. Nurse champions sustained implementation strategies through all phases of implementation. Findings also suggest that nurse champions leveraged the influence of their role as champion along with their understanding of social networks and relationships to help achieve implementation success. Nurse champions consciously used multiple overlapping and iterative implementation strategies, adapting and tailoring strategies to stakeholders and settings. Commonly used implementation categories included: "train and educate stakeholders," "use evaluative and iterative strategies," "adapt and tailor to context," and "develop stakeholder interrelationships." Future research should examine the social networks for evidence-based interventions by asking specifically about relationships and power dynamics within healthcare organizations. Implementation of evidence-based interventions should consider if the tasks expected of a nurse champion fit the level of influence or power held by the champion., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT02216227., Competing Interests: Author MS reports grant and donated product from PDI Healthcare and 3M for a different study. He reports honoraria for creating educational module on surgical site infections and honoraria for presenting on surgical site infections. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Hockett Sherlock, Goedken, Balkenende, Dukes, Perencevich, Reisinger, Forrest, Pfeiffer, West and Schweizer.)

Background: Telemedicine outreach for posttraumatic stress disorder (TOP) is a virtual evidence-based practice (EBP) involving telephone care management and telepsychology that engages rural patients in trauma-focused psychotherapy. This evaluation examined implementation and intervention costs attributable to deploying TOP from a health system perspective., Methods: Costs were ascertained as part of a stepped wedge cluster randomized trial at five sites within the Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare System. All sites initially received a standard implementation strategy, which included internal facilitation, dissemination of an internal facilitators operational guide, funded care manager, care managing training, and technical support. A subset of clinics that failed to meet performance metrics were subsequently randomized to enhanced implementation , which added external facilitation that focused on incorporating TOP clinical processes into existing clinic workflow. We measured site-level implementation activities using project records and structured activity logs tracking personnel-level time devoted to all implementation activities. We monetized time devoted to implementation activities by applying an opportunity cost approach. Intervention costs were measured as accounting-based costs for telepsychiatry/telepsychology and care manager visits, ascertained using VA administrative data. We conducted descriptive analyses of strategy-specific implementation costs across five sites. Descriptive analyses were conducted instead of population-level cost-effectiveness analysis because previous research found enhanced implementation was not more successful than the standard implementation in improving uptake of TOP., Results: Over the 40-month study period, four of five sites received enhanced implementation. Mean site-level implementation cost per month was $919 (SD = $238) during standard implementation and increased to $1,651 (SD = $460) during enhanced implementation. Mean site-level intervention cost per patient-month was $46 (SD = $28) during standard implementation and $31 (SD = $21) during enhanced implementation., Conclusions: Project findings inform the expected cost of implementing TOP, which represents one factor health systems should consider in the decision to broadly adopt this EBP. Plain Language Summary: What is already known about the topic: Trauma-focused psychotherapy delivered through telemedicine has been demonstrated as an effective approach for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, uptake of this evidence-based approach by integrated health systems such as the Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care System is low. What does this paper add: This paper presents new findings on the costs of two implementation approaches designed to increase adoption telemedicine outreach for PTSD from a health system perspective. What are the implications for practice, research, and policy: Cost estimates from this paper can be used by health systems to inform the relative value of candidate implementation strategies to increase adoption of evidence-based treatments for PTSD or other mental health conditions., Competing Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2022.)

Objectives: Contaminated surfaces in healthcare settings contribute to the transmission of nosocomial pathogens. Adequate environmental cleaning is important for preventing the transmission of important pathogens and reducing healthcare-associated infections. However, effective cleaning practices vary considerably. We examined environmental management services (EMS) staff experiences and perceptions surrounding environmental cleaning to describe perceived challenges and ideas to promote an effective environmental services program., Design: Qualitative study., Participants: Frontline EMS staff., Methods: From January to June 2019, we conducted individual semistructured interviews with key stakeholders (ie, EMS staff) at 3 facilities within the Veterans' Affairs Healthcare System. We used the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) framework (ie, people, environment, organization, tasks, tools) to guide this study. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for thematic content., Results: In total, 13 EMS staff and supervisors were interviewed. A predominant theme that emerged were the challenges EMS staff saw as hindering their ability to be effective at their jobs. EMS staff interviewed felt they understand their job requirements and are dedicated to their work; however, they described challenges related to feeling undervalued and staffing issues., Conclusions: EMS staff play a critical role in infection prevention in healthcare settings. However, some do not believe their role is recognized or valued by the larger healthcare team and leadership. EMS staff provided ideas for improving feelings of value and job satisfaction, including higher pay, opportunities for certifications and advancement, as well as collaboration or integration with the larger healthcare team. Healthcare organizations should focus on utilizing these suggestions to improve the EMS work climate., (© The Author(s) 2022.)

Objective: To address barriers to trauma-focused psychotherapy for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), we compared two implementation strategies to promote the deployment of telemedicine collaborative care., Method: We conducted a Hybrid Type III Effectiveness Implementation trial at six VA medical centers and their 12 affiliated Community Based Outpatient Clinics. The trial used a stepped wedge design and an adaptive implementation strategy that started with standard implementation, followed by enhanced implementation for VA medical centers that did not achieve the performance benchmark. Implementation outcomes for the 544 veterans sampled from the larger population targeted by the intervention were assessed from chart review (care management enrollment and receipt of trauma-focused psychotherapy) and telephone survey (perceived access and PTSD symptoms) after each implementation phase. The primary outcome was enrollment in care management., Results: There was no significant difference between standard implementation and enhanced implementation on any of the implementation outcomes. 41.6% of sampled veterans had a care manager encounter, but only 6.0% engaged in trauma-focused psychotherapy., Conclusions: While telemedicine collaborative care was shown to be effective at engaging veterans in trauma-focused psychotherapy in a randomized controlled trial, neither standard nor enhanced implementation strategies were sufficient to support successful deployment into routine care., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02737098., (Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Objectives: Intensivists and subspecialists often collaborate in diagnosing patients in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Our objectives were to characterize critically ill children for whom subspecialty consultations were requested, describe consultation characteristics, and determine consultations' impact on PICU diagnosis., Methods: We performed a retrospective study using chart review in a single tertiary referral PICU including children admitted for acute illness. We collected data on patients with and without subspecialty consultations within the first three days of PICU admission and determined changes in PICU clinicians' diagnostic evaluation or treatment after consultations., Results: PICU clinicians requested 152 subspecialty consultations for 87 of 101 (86%) patients. Consultations were requested equally for assistance in diagnosis (65%) and treatment (66%). Eighteen of 87 (21%) patients with consultations had a change in diagnosis from PICU admission to discharge, 11 (61%) attributed to subspecialty input. Thirty-nine (45%) patients with consultations had additional imaging and/or laboratory testing and 48 (55%) had medication changes and/or a procedure performed immediately after consultation., Conclusions: Subspecialty consultations were requested during a majority of PICU admissions. Consultations can influence the diagnosis and treatment of critically ill children. Future research should investigate PICU interdisciplinary collaborations, which are essential for teamwork in diagnosis., (© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.)

Background: Many critically ill children are initially evaluated in front-line settings by clinicians with variable pediatric training before they are transferred to a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Because clinicians learn from past performance, communicating outcomes of patients back to front-line clinicians who provide pediatric emergency care could be valuable; however, referring clinicians do not consistently receive this important feedback., Objectives: Our aim was to determine the feasibility, usability, and clinical relevance of a semiautomated electronic health record (EHR)-supported system developed at a single institution to deliver timely and relevant PICU patient outcome feedback to referring emergency department (ED) physicians., Methods: Guided by the Health Information Technology Safety Framework, we iteratively designed, implemented, and evaluated a semiautomated electronic feedback system leveraging the EHR in one institution. After conducting interviews and focus groups with stakeholders to understand the PICU-ED health care work system, we designed the EHR-supported feedback system by translating stakeholder, organizational, and usability objectives into feedback process and report requirements. Over 6 months, we completed three cycles of implementation and evaluation, wherein we analyzed EHR access logs, reviewed feedback reports sent, performed usability testing, and conducted physician interviews to determine the system's feasibility, usability, and clinical relevance., Results: The EHR-supported feedback process is feasible with timely delivery and receipt of feedback reports. Usability testing revealed excellent Systems Usability Scale scores. According to physicians, the process was well-integrated into their clinical workflows and conferred minimal additional workload. Physicians also indicated that delivering and receiving consistent feedback was relevant to their clinical practice., Conclusion: An EHR-supported system to deliver timely and relevant PICU patient outcome feedback to referring ED physicians was feasible, usable, and important to physicians. Future work is needed to evaluate impact on clinical practice and patient outcomes and to investigate applicability to other clinical settings involved in similar care transitions., Competing Interests: None declared., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To determine whether the order in which healthcare workers perform patient care tasks affects hand hygiene compliance., Design: For this retrospective analysis of data collected during the Strategies to Reduce Transmission of Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria in Intensive Care Units (STAR*ICU) study, we linked consecutive tasks healthcare workers performed into care sequences and identified task transitions: 2 consecutive task sequences and the intervening hand hygiene opportunity. We compared hand hygiene compliance rates and used multiple logistic regression to determine the adjusted odds for healthcare workers (HCWs) transitioning in a direction that increased or decreased the risk to patients if healthcare workers did not perform hand hygiene before the task and for HCWs contaminating their hands., Setting: The study was conducted in 17 adult surgical, medical, and medical-surgical intensive care units., Participants: HCWs in the STAR*ICU study units., Results: HCWs moved from cleaner to dirtier tasks during 5,303 transitions (34.7%) and from dirtier to cleaner tasks during 10,000 transitions (65.4%). Physicians (odds ratio [OR]: 1.50; P < .0001) and other HCWs (OR, 2.15; P < .0001) were more likely than nurses to move from dirtier to cleaner tasks. Glove use was associated with moving from dirtier to cleaner tasks (OR, 1.22; P < .0001). Hand hygiene compliance was lower when HCWs transitioned from dirtier to cleaner tasks than when they transitioned in the opposite direction (adjusted OR, 0.93; P < .0001)., Conclusions: HCWs did not organize patient care tasks in a manner that decreased risk to patients, and they were less likely to perform hand hygiene when transitioning from dirtier to cleaner tasks than the reverse. These practices could increase the risk of transmission or infection.

Objectives: Multidisciplinary PICU teams must effectively share information while caring for critically ill children. Clinical documentation helps clinicians develop a shared understanding of the patient's diagnosis, which informs decision-making. However, diagnosis-related documentation in the PICU is understudied, thus limiting insights into how pediatric intensivists convey their diagnostic reasoning. Our objective was to describe how pediatric critical care clinicians document patients' diagnoses at PICU admission., Design: Retrospective mixed methods study describing diagnosis documentation in electronic health records., Setting: Academic tertiary referral PICU., Patients: Children 0-17 years old admitted nonelectively to a single PICU over 1 year., Interventions: None., Measurements and Main Results: One hundred PICU admission notes for 96 unique patients were reviewed. In 87% of notes, both attending physicians and residents or advanced practice providers documented a primary diagnosis; in 13%, primary diagnoses were documented by residents or advanced practice providers alone. Most diagnoses (72%) were written as narrative free text, 11% were documented as problem lists/billing codes, and 17% used both formats. At least one rationale was documented to justify the primary diagnosis in 91% of notes. Diagnostic uncertainty was present in 52% of notes, most commonly suggested by clinicians' use of words indicating uncertainty (65%) and documentation of differential diagnoses (60%). Clinicians' integration and interpretation of information varied in terms of: 1) organization of diagnosis narratives, 2) use of contextual details to clarify the diagnosis, and 3) expression of diagnostic uncertainty., Conclusions: In this descriptive study, most PICU admission notes documented a rationale for the primary diagnosis and expressed diagnostic uncertainty. Clinicians varied widely in how they organized diagnostic information, used contextual details to clarify the diagnosis, and expressed uncertainty. Future work is needed to determine how diagnosis narratives affect clinical decision-making, patient care, and outcomes., Competing Interests: Drs. Vivtcharenko’s, Dukes’, Herwaldt's, Reisinger's, and Cifra’s institutions received funding from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. Dr. Cifra is supported by the AHRQ through a K08 grant (HS026965) and an internal start-up grant from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Singh disclosed government work. He is supported by the Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development Service (Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers USA 14-274), the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (R01HS022087), the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the Houston VA Health Services Research and Development Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness, and Safety (Center for Innovations 13–413). Dr. Herwaldt’s institution received funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the AHRQ, and PDI. Dr. Reisinger is supported by an NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award (UL1TR002537) through the University of Iowa’s Institute for Clinical and Translational Science. Dr. Cifra received funding from AHRQ. Dr. Ramesh has disclosed that she does not have any potential conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2021 by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies.)

Background: An application-oriented implementation framework designed for clinicians and based on the Diffusion of Innovations theory included 81 implementation strategies with suggested timing for use within four implementation phases. The purpose of this research was to evaluate and strengthen the framework for clinician use and propose its usefulness in implementation research., Methods: A multi-step, iterative approach guided framework revisions. Individuals requesting the use of the framework over the previous 7 years were sent an electronic questionnaire. Evaluation captured framework usability, generalizability, accuracy, and implementation phases for each strategy. Next, nurse leaders who use the framework pile sorted strategies for cultural domain analysis. Last, a panel of five EBP/implementation experts used these data and built consensus to strengthen the framework., Results: Participants (n = 127/1578; 8% response) were predominately nurses (94%), highly educated (94% Master's or higher), and from across healthcare (52% hospital/system, 31% academia, and 7% community) in the USA (84%). Most (96%) reported at least some experience using the framework and 88% would use the framework again. A 4-point scale (1 = not/disagree to 4 = very/agree) was used. The framework was deemed useful (92%, rating 3-4), easy to use (72%), intuitive (67%), generalizable (100%), flexible and adaptive (100%), with accurate phases (96%), and accurate targets (100%). Participants (n = 51) identified implementation strategy timing within four phases (Cochran's Q); 54 of 81 strategies (66.7%, p < 0.05) were significantly linked to a specific phase; of these, 30 (55.6%) matched the original framework. Next, nurse leaders (n = 23) completed a pile sorting activity. Anthropac software was used to analyze the data and visualize it as a domain map and hierarchical clusters with 10 domains. Lastly, experts used these data and implementation science to refine and specify each of the 75 strategies, identifying phase, domain, actors, and function. Strategy usability, timing, and groupings were used to refine the framework., Conclusion: The Iowa Implementation for Sustainability Framework offers a typology to guide implementation for evidence-based healthcare. This study specifies 75 implementation strategies within four phases and 10 domains and begins to validate the framework. Standard use of strategy names is foundational to compare and understand when implementation strategies are effective, in what dose, for which topics, by whom, and in what context., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

We evaluated barriers and facilitators to patient adherence with a bundled intervention including chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) bathing and decolonizing Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriers in a real-world setting. Survey data identified 85.5% adherence with home use of CHG as directed and 52.9% adherence with home use of mupirocin as directed., (© The Author(s) 2021.)

Objective: To assess the effectiveness and acceptability of antimicrobial stewardship-focused implementation strategies on inpatient fluoroquinolones., Methods: Stewardship champions at 15 hospitals were surveyed regarding the use and acceptability of strategies to improve fluoroquinolone prescribing. Antibiotic days of therapy (DOT) per 1,000 days present (DP) for sites with and without prospective audit and feedback (PAF) and/or prior approval were compared., Results: Among all of the sites, 60% had PAF or prior approval implemented for fluoroquinolones. Compared to sites using neither strategy (64.2 ± 34.4 DOT/DP), fluoroquinolone prescribing rates were lower for sites that employed PAF and/or prior approval (35.5 ± 9.8; P = .03) and decreased from 2017 to 2018 (P < .001). This decrease occurred without an increase in advanced-generation cephalosporins. Total antibiotic rates were 13% lower for sites with PAF and/or prior approval, but this difference did not reach statistical significance (P = .20). Sites reporting that PAF and/or prior approval were "completely" accepted had lower fluoroquinolone rates than sites where it was "moderately" accepted (34.2 ± 5.7 vs 48.7 ± 4.5; P < .01). Sites reported that clinical pathways and/or local guidelines (93%), prior approval (93%), and order forms (80%) "would" or "may" be effective in improving fluoroquinolone use. Although most sites (73%) indicated that requiring infectious disease consults would or may be effective in improving fluoroquinolones, 87% perceived implementation to be difficult., Conclusions: PAF and prior approval implementation strategies focused on fluoroquinolones were associated with significantly lower fluoroquinolone prescribing rates and nonsignificant decreases in total antibiotic use, suggesting limited evidence for class substitution. The association of acceptability of strategies with lower rates highlights the importance of culture. These results may indicate increased acceptability of implementation strategies and/or sensitivity to FDA warnings.

Background/objective: Hospital readmissions in the United States, especially in patients at high-risk, cost more than $17 billion annually. Although care transitions is an important area of research, data are limited regarding its efficacy, especially among rural patients. In this study, we describe a novel transitions-of-care clinic (TOCC) to reduce 30-day readmissions in a Veterans Health Administration setting that serves a high proportion of rural veterans., Methods: In this quality improvement initiative we conducted a pre-post study evaluating clinical outcomes in adult patients at high risk for 30-day readmission (Care Assessment Needs score > 85) discharged from the Iowa City Veterans Affairs (ICVA) Health Care System from 2017 to 2020. The ICVA serves 184,000 veterans across 50 counties in eastern Iowa, western Illinois, and northern Missouri, with more than 60% of these patients residing in rural areas. We implemented a multidisciplinary TOCC to provide in-person or virtual follow-up to high-risk veterans after hospital discharge. The main purpose of this study was to assess how TOCC follow-up impacted the monthly 30-day patient readmission rate., Results: The TOCC resulted in a 19.2% relative reduction in 30-day readmission rates in the 12-month postimplementation period compared to the preimplementation period (9.2% vs 11.4%, P = .04). Virtual visits were more popular than in-person visits among both urban and rural veterans. There was no difference in outcomes between these two follow-up options, and both groups had reduced readmission rates compared to non-TOCC follow-up., Conclusions: A multidisciplinary TOCC within the ICVA featuring both virtual and in-person visits reduced the 30-day readmission rate. This reduction was particularly notable among patients with congestive heart failure.

Introduction: The optimal method for implementing hospital-level restrictions for antibiotics that carry a high risk of Clostridioides difficile infection has not been identified. We aimed to explore barriers and facilitators to implementing restrictions for fluoroquinolones and third/fourth-generation cephalosporins., Methods: This mixed-methods study across a purposeful sample of 15 acute-care, geographically dispersed Veterans Health Administration hospitals included electronic surveys and semi-structured interviews (September 2018 to May 2019). Surveys on stewardship strategies were administered at each hospital and summarized with descriptive statistics. Interviews were performed with 30 antibiotic stewardship programme (ASP) champions across all 15 sites and 19 additional stakeholders at a subset of 5 sites; transcripts were analysed using thematic content analysis., Results: The most restricted agent was moxifloxacin, which was restricted at 12 (80%) sites. None of the 15 hospitals restricted ceftriaxone. Interviews identified differing opinions on the feasibility of restricting third/fourth-generation cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones. Some participants felt that restrictions could be implemented in a way that was not burdensome to clinicians and did not interfere with timely antibiotic administration. Others expressed concerns about restricting these agents, particularly through prior approval, given their frequent use, the difficulty of enforcing restrictions and potential unintended consequences of steering clinicians towards non-restricted antibiotics. A variety of stewardship strategies were perceived to be effective at reducing the use of these agents., Conclusions: Across 15 hospitals, there were differing opinions on the feasibility of implementing antibiotic restrictions for third/fourth-generation cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones. While the perceived barrier to implementing restrictions was frequently high, many hospitals were effectively using restrictions and reported few barriers to their use., (Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 2021. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.)

Background: Infections caused by carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) and carbapenemase-producing (CP) CRE are difficult to treat, resulting in high mortality in healthcare settings every year. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) disseminated guidelines in 2015 and an updated directive in 2017 for control of CRE focused on laboratory testing, prevention, and management. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) framework was used to analyze qualitative interview data to identify contextual factors and best practices influencing implementation of the 2015 guidelines/2017 directive in VA Medical Centers (VAMCs). The overall goals were to determine CFIR constructs to target to improve CRE guideline/directive implementation and understand how CFIR, as a multi-level conceptual model, can be used to inform guideline implementation., Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted at 29 VAMCs with staff involved in implementing CRE guidelines at their facility. Survey and VHA administrative data were used to identify geographically representative large and small VAMCs with varying levels of CRE incidence. Interviews addressed perceptions of guideline dissemination, laboratory testing, staff attitudes and training, patient education, and technology support. Participant responses were coded using a consensus-based mixed deductive-inductive approach guided by CFIR. A quantitative analysis comparing qualitative CFIR constructs and emergent codes to sites actively screening for CRE (vs. non-screening) and any (vs. no) CRE-positive cultures was conducted using Fisher's exact test., Results: Forty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted between October 2017 and August 2018 with laboratory staff (47%), Multi-Drug-Resistant Organism Program Coordinators (MPCs, 35%), infection preventionists (12%), and physicians (6%). Participants requested more standardized tools to promote effective communication (e.g., electronic screening). Participants also indicated that CRE-specific educational materials were needed for staff, patient, and family members. Quantitative analysis identified CRE screening or presence of CRE as being significantly associated with the following qualitative CFIR constructs: leadership engagement, relative priority, available resources, team communication, and access to knowledge and information., Conclusions: Effective CRE identification, prevention, and treatment require ongoing collaboration between clinical, microbiology, infection prevention, antimicrobial stewardship, and infectious diseases specialists. Our results emphasize the importance of leadership's role in promoting positive facility culture, including access to resources, improving communication, and facilitating successful implementation of the CRE guidelines.

Purpose: The effect of communication between referring and accepting clinicians during patient transitions to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) on diagnostic quality is largely unknown. This pilot study aims to determine the feasibility of using focused ethnography to understand the relationship between referral communication and the diagnostic process for critically ill children., Materials and Methods: We conducted focused ethnography in an academic tertiary referral PICU by directly observing the referral and admission of 3 non-electively admitted children 0-17 years old. We also conducted 21 semi-structured interviews of their parents and admitting PICU staff (intensivists, fellows/residents, medical students, nurses, and respiratory therapists) and reviewed their medical records post-discharge., Results: Performing focused ethnography in a busy PICU is feasible. We identified three areas for additional exploration: (1) how information transfer affects the PICU diagnostic process; (2) how uncertainty in patient assessment affects the decision to transfer to the PICU; and (3) how the PICU team's expectations are influenced by referral communication., Conclusions: Focused ethnography in the PICU is feasible to investigate relationships between clinician referral communication and the diagnostic process for critically ill children., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Dr. Cifra is supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) through a K08 grant (HS026965) and an internal start-up grant from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Singh is funded in part by the Houston VA Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness, and Safety (CIN13-413), the VA HSR&D Service (CRE17-127) and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (USA 14–274), the VA National Center for Patient Safety, AHRQ (R01HS27363), and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the AHRQ. Dr. Reisinger is supported by an NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award (UL1TR002537) through the University of Iowa's Institute for Clinical and Translational Science. The remaining authors have no declarations of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Post-treatment head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors contend with distinct, long-term challenges related to cancer treatments that impact their day-to-day lives. Alongside follow-up cancer care, they also must be responsible for the daily management of often intrusive physical and psychological symptoms, as well as maintaining their health and a lifestyle to promote their well-being. The purpose of this study was to identify HNC survivors' approaches toward engagement in self-management activities., Methods: Post-treatment HNC survivors (N=22) participated in the study through purposeful sampling. Participants were eligible if they 1) had a history of upper aerodigestive tract cancer; 2) completed their most recent primary treatment (i.e. chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery) more than eighteen months prior and had no evidence of HNC, and 3) could speak in English. A semi-structured interview was used. Data was analyzed using content analysis., Results: We identified three approaches that survivors took towards self-management activities: taking charge, living with it, and engaging as needed. Our results showed that taking charge is when survivors take an active role in evaluating their health and taking action subsequently; as needed represents engaging in self-management as necessary; and living with it reflects adapting to the symptoms and side effects without managing them., Conclusions: We propose self-management approaches as a novel mechanism to understand the relationship between survivors' characteristics and health preferences and their self-management. It is important for clinicians to highlight the variation in individuals 'self-management approaches as they work to identify tailored patient-centered strategies that compliment specific patient needs., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Most articles on hand hygiene report either overall compliance or compliance with specific hand hygiene moments. These moments vary in the level of risk to patients if healthcare workers (HCWs) are noncompliant. We assessed how task type affected HCWs' hand hygiene compliance., Methods: We linked consecutive tasks individual HCWs performed during the Strategies to Reduce Transmission of Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria in Intensive Care Units (STAR*ICU) study into care sequences and identified task pairs-2 consecutive tasks and the intervening hand hygiene opportunity. We defined tasks as critical and/or contaminating. We determined the odds of critical and contaminating tasks occurring, and the odds of hand hygiene compliance using logistic regression for transition with a random effect adjusting for isolation precautions, glove use, HCW type, and compliance at prior opportunities., Results: Healthcare workers were less likely to do hand hygiene before critical tasks than before other tasks (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.97 [95% confidence interval {CI}, .95-.98]) and more likely to do hand hygiene after contaminating tasks than after other tasks (aOR, 1.12 [95% CI, 1.10-1.13]). Nurses were more likely to perform both critical and contaminating tasks, but nurses' hand hygiene compliance was better than physicians' (aOR, 0.94 [95% CI, .91-.97]) and other HCWs' compliance (aOR, 0.87 [95% CI, .87-.94])., Conclusions: Healthcare workers were more likely to do hand hygiene after contaminating tasks than before critical tasks, suggesting that habits and a feeling of disgust may influence hand hygiene compliance. This information could be incorporated into interventions to improve hand hygiene practices, particularly before critical tasks and after contaminating tasks., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Purpose: To assess differences in Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) performance between rural and urban primary care clinics within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA)., Methods: An Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods design was conducted using VHA administrative data to assess performance of a national sample of 891 VHA primary care clinics. Generalized Estimating Equations with repeated measures were used to estimate associations between rurality and process-oriented endpoints including: chronic disease management through telehealth; use of telephone visits, group visits or secured messaging; same-day access; continuity with primary care provider; and postdischarge follow-up. Qualitative data collected during on-site visits with 5 clinics were used to provide insights into PACT processes from the perspectives of staff in rural and urban clinics., Findings: After adjusting for patient- and practice-level characteristics, clinics located in large rural or small/isolated rural areas demonstrated difficulty enhancing access through use of telephone visits, group visits, or secured messaging and completing postdischarge follow-up calls, compared to urban clinics. Qualitative analysis indicated that staff from both rural and urban clinics reported similar barriers implementing these PACT processes. Both patient and staff behaviors and preferences impact implementation of these processes. Distance to care and access to high-speed Internet were also reported as barriers., Conclusions: This study contributes to the understanding of PACT performance in rural settings by highlighting ways contextual and behavioral factors relate to performance. Increasing implementation of patient-centered medical home (PCMH) models, such as PACT, will require additional attention to the complex relationships between the practice and surrounding context., (© 2020 National Rural Health Association.)

Purpose: To create a simplified critical illness severity scoring system with high prediction accuracy for 30-day mortality using only commonly available variables., Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study of ICU admissions 2010-2015 in 306 ICUs in 117 Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals. We randomly divided our cohort into a training dataset (75%) and a validation dataset (25%). We created a critical illness severity scoring system (CISSS) using age, comorbidities, heart rate, mean arterial blood pressure, temperature, respiratory rate, hematocrit, white blood cell count, creatinine, sodium, glucose, albumin, bilirubin, bicarbonate, use of invasive mechanical ventilation, and whether the admission was surgical or not. We validated the performance of CISSS to predict 30-day mortality internally., Results: After excluding 31,743 re-admissions, we divided our sample (n = 534,001) into a training (n = 400,613) and a validation dataset (n = 133,388). In the training dataset, the area under the curve (AUC) of CISSS was 0.847(95%CI = 0.845-0.850). In the validation dataset, the AUC was 0.848 (95%CI = 0.844-0.852), the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) was 1.00 (95%CI = 0.98-1.02), and Brier's score for 30-day mortality was 0.058 (95%CI = 0.057-0.059). CISSS calibration was acceptable., Conclusions: CISSS has very good performance and requires only commonly used variables that can be easily extracted by electronic health records., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Drs. Fortis, Beck, O'Shea, and Reisinger's institutions received funding from VA Office of Rural Health and Center for Access & Delivery Research & Evaluation (CADRE), Award # CIN-13-412, Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development Program. Drs. Beck, O'Shea, Goto, Kaboli, Reisinger, and Sarrazin disclosed government work. Dr. Fortis has received grants from American Thoracic Society and Fisher &Paykel. Dr. Schmidt received funding from McGraw-Hill, Springer-Link, and UpToDate. Dr. Nair disclosed that he does not have any potential conflicts of interest., (Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: Generating, reading, or interpreting data is a component of Telemedicine-Intensive Care Unit (Tele-ICU) utilization that has not been explored in the literature. Introduction: Using the idea of "coherence," a construct of Normalization Process Theory, we describe how intensive care unit (ICU) and Tele-ICU staff made sense of their shared work and how they made use of Tele-ICU together. Materials and Methods: We interviewed ICU and Tele-ICU staff involved in the implementation of Tele-ICU during site visits to a Tele-ICU hub and 3 ICUs, at preimplementation (43 interviews with 65 participants) and 6 months postimplementation (44 interviews with 67 participants). Data were analyzed using deductive coding techniques and lexical searches. Results: In the early implementation of Tele-ICU, ICU and Tele-ICU staff lacked consensus about how to share information and consequently how to make use of innovations in data tracking and interpretation offered by the Tele-ICU (e.g., acuity systems). Attempts to collaborate and create opportunities for utilization were supported by quality improvement (QI) initiatives. Discussion: Characterizing Tele-ICU utilization as an element of a QI process limited how ICU staff understood Tele-ICU as an innovation. It also did not promote an understanding of how the Tele-ICU used data and may therefore attenuate the larger promise of Tele-ICU as a potential tool for leveraging big data in critical care. Conclusions: Shared data practices lay the foundation for Tele-ICU program utilization but raise new questions about how the promise of big data can be operationalized for bedside ICU staff.