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Parent and Emergency Physician Comfort with a System of On-Line Emergency-Focused Medical Summaries for Infants with Significant Cardiac Disease

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Abstract

Surveys were developed and administered to assess parental comfort with emergency care for children with special health care needs (CSHCN) with cardiac disease and the impact of a web-based database of emergency-focused clinical summaries (emergency information forms-EIF) called Midwest Emergency Medical Services for Children Information System (MEMSCIS) on parental attitudes regarding emergency care of their CSHCN. We hypothesized that MEMSCIS would improve the parent and provider outlook regarding emergencies of young children with heart disease in a randomized controlled trial. Children under age 2 were enrolled in MEMSCIS by study nurses associated with pediatric cardiac centers in a metropolitan area. Parents were surveyed at enrollment and 1 year on a 5-Point Likert Scale. Validity and reliability of the survey were evaluated. Study nurses formulated the emergency-focused summaries with cardiologists. One-hundred-seventy parent subjects, 94 study and 76 control, were surveyed at baseline and 1 year. Parents felt that hospital personnel were well-prepared for emergencies of their children and this improved from baseline 4.07 ± 1.03 to 1 year 4.24 ± 1.04 in study parents who had an EIF for their child and participated in the program (p = 0.0114) but not control parents. Parents perceived an improved comfort level by pre-hospital (p = 0.0256) and hospital (p = 0.0031) emergency personnel related to the MEMSCIS program. The MEMSCIS Program with its emergency-focused web-based clinical summary improved comfort levels for study parents. We speculate that the program facilitated normalization for parents even if the EIF was not used in an emergency during the study. The MEMSCIS program helps to prepare the family and the emergency system for care of CSHCN outside of the medical home.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the assistance of Dr. Jeffrey Schiff who provided consultation in the development of the www.memscis.com website and Molly Hanse and Jennifer Piccolo-Fisher who provided administrative assistance for the project. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the technical assistance from National EMSC Data Analysis Resource Center including Drs. Michael Dean and Michael Ely who provided invaluable assistance with start-up of the project and NEDARC help with survey design. The assistance of Sue Duval, Ph.D. and Gabriella Vasquez, MS who provided statistical consultation is also acknowledged. The authors recognize the support of staff of Fairview Health Systems and Children’s Hospitals of Minnesota data warehouses. This project was supported by US DHHS MCHB Grants H34MCC0091 and H34MC02544.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Amplatz Children’s Hospital, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Lee A. Pyles, Margaret Scheid, Molly Hanse, Kathy Jamrozek & James H. Moller

  2. ImageTrend Inc, Lakeville, MN, USA

    Michael P. McBrady

  3. Fairview Health System, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Kathryn H. Hoyman

  4. Emergency Medical Services for Children Resource Center of Minnesota, University of Minnesota School of Medicine, Mayo Mail Code #94, 420 Delaware St., Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Lee A. Pyles & Claudia I. Hines

  5. Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Jessica C. Hannan, Charles M. Baker & Claudia I. Hines

  6. Children’s Heart Clinic, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Charles M. Baker

  7. Division of Epidemiology, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Susan J. Duval

Authors
  1. Lee A. Pyles
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  2. Margaret Scheid
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  3. Michael P. McBrady
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  4. Kathryn H. Hoyman
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  5. Molly Hanse
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  6. Kathy Jamrozek
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  7. Jessica C. Hannan
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  8. Charles M. Baker
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  9. Susan J. Duval
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  10. James H. Moller
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  11. Claudia I. Hines
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lee A. Pyles.

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Pyles, L.A., Scheid, M., McBrady, M.P. et al. Parent and Emergency Physician Comfort with a System of On-Line Emergency-Focused Medical Summaries for Infants with Significant Cardiac Disease. Matern Child Health J 15, 534–541 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-010-0593-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-010-0593-8

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