First name
Jeffrey
Middle name
M
Last name
Miller

Title

Perspective on the Development of a Large-Scale Clinical Data Repository for Pediatric Hearing Research.

Year of Publication

2020

Number of Pages

231-238

Date Published

2020 Mar/Apr

ISSN Number

1538-4667

Abstract

<p>The use of "big data" for pediatric hearing research requires new approaches to both data collection and research methods. The widespread deployment of electronic health record systems creates new opportunities and corresponding challenges in the secondary use of large volumes of audiological and medical data. Opportunities include cost-effective hypothesis generation, rapid cohort expansion for rare conditions, and observational studies based on sample sizes in the thousands to tens of thousands. Challenges include finding and forming appropriately skilled teams, access to data, data quality assessment, and engagement with a research community new to big data. The authors share their experience and perspective on the work required to build and validate a pediatric hearing research database that integrates clinical data for over 185,000 patients from the electronic health record systems of three major academic medical centers.</p>

DOI

10.1097/AUD.0000000000000779

Alternate Title

Ear Hear

PMID

31408044

Title

Human-centered development of an electronic health record-embedded, interactive information visualization in the emergency department using fast healthcare interoperability resources.

Year of Publication

2021

Date Published

2021 Mar 03

ISSN Number

1527-974X

Abstract

<p><strong>OBJECTIVE: </strong>Develop and evaluate an interactive information visualization embedded within the electronic health record (EHR) by following human-centered design (HCD) processes and leveraging modern health information exchange standards.</p>

<p><strong>MATERIALS AND METHODS: </strong>We applied an HCD process to develop a Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) application that displays a patient's asthma history to clinicians in a pediatric emergency department. We performed a preimplementation comparative system evaluation to measure time on task, number of screens, information retrieval accuracy, cognitive load, user satisfaction, and perceived utility and usefulness. Application usage and system functionality were assessed using application logs and a postimplementation survey of end users.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>Usability testing of the Asthma Timeline Application demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in time on task (P &lt; .001), number of screens (P &lt; .001), and cognitive load (P &lt; .001) for clinicians when compared to base EHR functionality. Postimplementation evaluation demonstrated reliable functionality and high user satisfaction.</p>

<p><strong>DISCUSSION: </strong>Following HCD processes to develop an application in the context of clinical operations/quality improvement is feasible. Our work also highlights the potential benefits and challenges associated with using internationally recognized data exchange standards as currently implemented.</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSION: </strong>Compared to standard EHR functionality, our visualization increased clinician efficiency when reviewing the charts of pediatric asthma patients. Application development efforts in an operational context should leverage existing health information exchange standards, such as FHIR, and evidence-based mixed methods approaches.</p>

DOI

10.1093/jamia/ocab016

Alternate Title

J Am Med Inform Assoc

PMID

33682004

Title

Adherence to Pediatric Universal Cholesterol Testing Guidelines Across Body Mass Index Categories: A CER Cohort Study.

Year of Publication

2020

Number of Pages

CIRCOUTCOMES119006519

Date Published

2020 Jul 17

ISSN Number

1941-7705

Abstract

<p>In 2011, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and NHLBI recommended universal cholesterol testing at age 9 to 11 years, discussing 2 rationales. The first rationale was identification of familial hypercholesterolemia, a severe disease with a prevalence of ≈ 1:300. The long-term safety and benefits of cholesteral-lowering medications for youth with severe hypercholesterolemia have been established. These known benefits increase the value of early disease identification. The second rationale was identification of less severe dyslipidemias associated with pediatric obesity that may represent a modifiable risk for cardiovascular disease. Before 2011, pediatric cholesterol testing was most common among children with known cardiovascular risks, particularly obesity. Questions remain about the role of universal testing in pediatrics, and the United States Preventive Services Task Force has not endorsed universal testing. This uncertainty may influence guideline uptake.</p>

<p>Prior reports examining cholesterol testing in pediatric cohorts predate the 2011 guideline, evaluate specific efforts to adopt the guideline, or were unable to evaluate other cardiovascular risk factors that may be associated with testing. This study asks whether, and to what extent, universal testing has been adopted since the 2011 guideline.</p>

DOI

10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.119.006519

Alternate Title

Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes

PMID

32674639

Title

Association Between Mobile Telephone Interruptions and Medication Administration Errors in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

Year of Publication

2019

Date Published

2019 Dec 20

ISSN Number

2168-6211

Abstract

<p><strong>Importance: </strong>Incoming text messages and calls on nurses' mobile telephones may interrupt medication administration, but whether such interruptions are associated with errors has not been established.</p>

<p><strong>Objective: </strong>To assess whether a temporal association exists between mobile telephone interruptions and subsequent errors by pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) nurses during medication administration.</p>

<p><strong>Design, Setting, and Participants: </strong>A retrospective cohort study was performed using telecommunications and electronic health record data from a PICU in a children's hospital. Data were collected from August 1, 2016, through September 30, 2017. Participants included 257 nurses and the 3308 patients to whom they administered medications.</p>

<p><strong>Exposures: </strong>Primary exposures were incoming telephone calls and text messages received on the institutional mobile telephone assigned to the nurse in the 10 minutes leading up to a medication administration attempt. Secondary exposures were the nurse's PICU experience, work shift (day vs night), nurse to patient ratio, and level of patient care required.</p>

<p><strong>Main Outcomes and Measures: </strong>Primary outcome, errors during medication administration, was a composite of reported medication administration errors and bar code medication administration error alerts generated when nurses attempted to give medications without active orders for the patient whose bar code they scanned.</p>

<p><strong>Results: </strong>Participants included 257 nurses, of whom 168 (65.4%) had 6 months or more of PICU experience; and 3308 patients, of whom 1839 (55.6%) were male, 1539 (46.5%) were white, and 2880 (87.1%) were non-Hispanic. The overall rate of errors during 238 540 medication administration attempts was 3.1% (95% CI, 3.0%-3.3%) when nurses were uninterrupted by incoming telephone calls and 3.7% (95% CI, 3.4%-4.0%) when they were interrupted by such calls. During day shift, the odds ratios (ORs) for error when interrupted by calls (compared with uninterrupted) were 1.02 (95% CI, 0.92-1.13; P = .73) among nurses with 6 months or more of PICU experience and 1.22 (95% CI, 1.00-1.47; P = .046) among nurses with less than 6 months of experience. During night shift, the ORs for error when interrupted by calls were 1.35 (95% CI, 1.16-1.57; P &lt; .001) among nurses with 6 months or more of PICU experience and 1.53 (95% CI, 1.16-2.03; P = .003) among nurses with less than 6 months of experience. Nurses administering medications to 1 or more patients receiving mechanical ventilation and arterial catheterization while caring for at least 1 other patient had an increased risk of error (OR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.03-1.42; P = .02). Incoming text messages were not associated with error (OR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.92-1.02; P = .22).</p>

<p><strong>Conclusions and Relevance: </strong>This study's findings suggest that incoming telephone call interruptions may be temporally associated with medication administration errors among PICU nurses. Risk of error varied by shift, experience, nurse to patient ratio, and level of patient care required.</p>

DOI

10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.5001

Alternate Title

JAMA Pediatr

PMID

31860017

Title

Routine cholesterol tests and subsequent change in BMI among overweight and obese children.

Year of Publication

2019

Date Published

2019 May 29

ISSN Number

1876-2867

Abstract

<p><strong>INTRODUCTION: </strong>In 2011 the NHLBI and AAP concluded that both familial and obesity associated dyslipidemias increase cardiovascular risk and recommended universal cholesterol testing at ages 9 - 11. It remains unknown whether testing influences body mass index (BMI) trajectory, a key modifiable cardiovascular outcome.</p>

<p><strong>METHODS: </strong>This quasi-experimental matched cohort includes children aged 9 - 11 years completing well visits in a diverse primary care network from 2012 - 2014. Participants had baseline BMI &gt;= 85% and no prior cholesterol testing. Propensity score matching identified untested children similar to tested children on weight measures, practice site, sex, age, race, ethnicity, insurance, and well visit frequency. Change in BMI z-score was assessed over 18 months. Regression adjusted for residual confounding following matching. Data was analyzed in 2018.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>Matching improved balance between tested and untested children for all characteristics. The matched cohort of 1,808 children was predominantly non-Latino black (48%) or non-Latino white (33%), and Medicaid insured (39%). Baseline BMI z-score was 1.88 for tested and 1.84 for untested children. Of tested children, 25% had cholesterol levels above the 2011 guideline's "acceptable" range. Two children received cholesterol lowering medications. Adjusted analysis found no difference in change in BMI z-score between tested and untested children (0.02, 95% CI -0.01, 0.04).</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>Individual risk assessment in the form of cholesterol testing is not associated with change in BMI trajectory among overweight and obese children. Though testing may identify familial hypercholesterolemia, results suggest testing does not change BMI trajectory, a key strategy to reduce cardiovascular risk.</p>

DOI

10.1016/j.acap.2019.05.131

Alternate Title

Acad Pediatr

PMID

31152795

Title

Assessing the Safety of Custom Web-Based Clinical Decision Support Systems in Electronic Health Records: A Case Study.

Year of Publication

2019

Number of Pages

237-246

Date Published

2019 Mar

ISSN Number

1869-0327

Abstract

<p><strong>BACKGROUND: </strong> With the widespread adoption of vendor-supplied electronic health record (EHR) systems, clinical decision support (CDS) customization efforts beyond those anticipated by the vendor may require the use of technologies external to the EHR such as web services. Pursuing such customizations, however, is not without risk. Validating the expected behavior of a customized CDS system in the high-volume, complex environment of the live EHR is a challenging problem.</p>

<p><strong>OBJECTIVE: </strong> This article identifies technology failures that impacted clinical care related to web service-based advanced custom CDS systems embedded in the complex sociotechnical context of a production EHR.</p>

<p><strong>METHODS: </strong> In an academic health system's primary care network, we performed an inventory of incidents between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2016 related to a customized CDS system and performed a targeted review of changes in the CDS source code. Additional feedback on the root cause of individual incidents was obtained through interviews with members of the CDS project teams.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong> We identified five CDS malfunctions that impaired clinical workflow. The mechanisms for these failures are mapped to four characteristics of well-behaved applications: (1) system integrity; (2) data integrity; (3) reliability; and (4) scalability. Over the 9-year period, two malfunctions of the customized CDS significantly impaired clinical workflow for a total of 5 hours. Lesser impacts-loss of individual features with straightforward workarounds-arose from three malfunctions, which affected users on 53 days.</p>

<p><strong>DISCUSSION: </strong> Advanced customization of EHRs for the purpose of CDS can present significant risks to clinical workflow.</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSION: </strong> This case study highlights that advanced customization of CDS within a commercial EHR may support care for complex patient populations, but ongoing monitoring and support is required to ensure its safe use.</p>

DOI

10.1055/s-0039-1683985

Alternate Title

Appl Clin Inform

PMID

30943572

Title

Sharing of ADHD Information between Parents and Teachers Using an EHR-Linked Application.

Year of Publication

2018

Number of Pages

892-904

Date Published

2018 Oct

ISSN Number

1869-0327

Abstract

<p><strong>BACKGROUND: </strong> Appropriate management of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) involves parents, clinicians, and teachers. Fragmentation of interventions between different settings can lead to suboptimal care and outcomes. Electronic systems can bridge gaps across settings. Our institution developed an email-based software to collect ADHD information from parents and teachers, which delivered data directly to the clinician within the electronic health record (EHR).</p>

<p><strong>OBJECTIVE: </strong> We sought to adapt our institution's existing EHR-linked system for ADHD symptom monitoring to support communication between parents and teachers and then to assess child characteristics associated with sharing of ADHD information.</p>

<p><strong>METHODS: </strong> We updated our software to support automated sharing of ADHD information between parents and teachers. Sharing was optional for parents but obligatory for teachers. We conducted a retrospective cohort study involving 590 patients at 31 primary care sites to evaluate a system for sharing of ADHD-specific health information between parents and teachers. We used multivariable logistic regression to estimate associations between child characteristics and parental sharing. We further investigated the association between child characteristics and viewing of survey results delivered through the electronic communication system.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong> Most parents (64%) elected to share survey results with teachers at the first opportunity and the vast majority (80%) elected to share all possible information. Parents who elected to share usually continue sharing at subsequent opportunities (89%). Younger child age and performance impairments were associated with increased likelihood of sharing. However, parents viewed only 16% of teacher submitted surveys and teachers only viewed 30% of surveys shared by parents.</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSION: </strong> This study demonstrates that electronic systems to capture ADHD information from parents and teachers can be adapted to support communication between them, and that parents are amenable to sharing ADHD information with teachers. However, strategies are needed to encourage viewing of shared information.</p>

DOI

10.1055/s-0038-1676087

Alternate Title

Appl Clin Inform

PMID

30566963

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