Decreasing Emergency Department Visits and Hospital Admission in the Pediatric Tracheostomy Population.

Abstract

Providing a child with a tracheostomy is often a life saving intervention. However, the impact on the family is frequently life changing. Parents of children with tracheostomies require specialized training in order to provide safe care for their child in the home setting. The purpose of this project was to investigate the outcomes of a parent education program delivered by a nurse practitioner and its impact on patient follow up for children with tracheostomies living at home. This quasi-experimental evidenced based project was based on an intervention group of five parent-child dyads and a control group of 23 parent-child dyads. It took place at a local children's hospital. This project compares the number of emergency room visits, inpatient admissions, phone calls and ENT clinic visits between the two groups. A significant increase in the number of phone calls to the clinic was found in the intervention group (p = 0.018). However, there was no significant change in the number of emergency room visits or inpatient admissions in the intervention group. The small number of participants in the intervention group limits the applicability of the results, however clinical significance exists. This study demonstrated that a structured parent education program with scheduled follow up with a nurse practitioner provides a positive impact on the care of the pediatric tracheostomy patient.