Dear Community,
Please save the date for our Spring Virtual ACTION Meeting! Registration is now available for this 2-day virtual (Zoom) meeting taking place on April 5 & 6, from 2–5pm EST (11am–2pm PST) on both days. We are taking a different approach for this meeting, and really want to focus on the collaborative nature of ACTION. This meeting will be based entirely on input from ACTION centers, featuring individual centers’ challenges and successes. More details and instructions will be coming to the ACTION PI’s soon for completing a quick preparation worksheet with your teams. Stay tuned!
Stay safe and healthy,
ACTION Experience with the HeartMate 3™ LVAD
March 11, 2021
4:00 PM Eastern
Moderator
Deipanjan Nandi, MD
Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Featured Presentations
Latebreaking HeartMate 3™ LVAD data in ACTION
Matt O'Connor, MD
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Surgical tips for successful HeartMate 3™ LVAD use in pediatrics and congenital heart disease
Iki Adachi, MD
Texas Children’s Hospital
Bedside pearls for successful HeartMate 3™ LVAD use in pediatrics and congenital heart disease
Jodie Lantz, MSN
Children’s Health Dallas/ UT Southwestern
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Please submit any questions that you would like for our presenters to discuss on the registration page.
Please register by March 10, 2021. Registration is free and open to anyone interested in participating. To join us, click below:
Upcoming Events
March 5th, 12–4pm ET & March 6th, 9am–2:15pm ET
Children’s Cardiomyopathy Foundation's 5th International Conference on Cardiomyopathy in Children
This two-day scientific conference will focus on determining research priorities and developing strategies for improving the diagnosis, treatment, and health outcomes of children with cardiomyopathy.
More Info | Register
March 11, 2021
Learning Session — (VIRTUAL)
ACTION Experience with the HeartMate 3™ LVAD
More Info | Register
April 5 & 6, 2021, 2–5pm ET (both days)
ACTION Spring 2021 Meeting — (VIRTUAL)
More info coming soon | Register
Check it out!
ACTION @ ISHLT: Look Who’s Talking
April 24th 1:25pm | Jenna Murray: "The ABC's Of Stroke Prevention: Reduction In Stroke Frequency Following A Quality Improvement Intervention By The Action Learning Network, Jenna Murray et al."
- April 24th at 2:15pm | Kurt Schumacher: ACTION Talks
- April 25th at 10:25am | John Dykes: "Atrial Cannulation in Pediatric Mechanical Circulatory Support, John Dykes et al."
- April 26th at 6:35am | Muhammad Shezad: "The Adjudication Process at ACTION - Providing Real-World High-Quality Data, Muhammad Shezad et al."
- April 26th at 6:40am | Deipanjan Nandi: "Ventricular Assist Device Outcomes In Children And Young Adults With Muscular Dystrophy: An ACTION Analysis, Deipanjan Nandi et al."
- April 27th at 10:05am | Anna Joong: "Outcomes of Infants and Children with Stage 1 Single Ventricle Implanted with Ventricular Assist Devices: An Analysis of the Advanced Cardiac Therapies Improving Outcomes Network (ACTION) Registry, Anna Joong et al."
- April 27th at 10:35am | David Peng: "Characterization of Strokes in Children on Ventricular Assist Devices: An Action Collaborative Analysis, Dave Peng et al."
- April 28th at 10:35am | Danielle Burstein: "Length Of Stay And Readmission Rates In Pediatric Acute Heart Failure, Danielle Burstein et al."
- April 30th at 11:00pm | David Rosenthal: "The ACTION Quality Improvement Collaborative: 2020 Annual Report, David Rosenthal et al."
New Protocols
The Harmonization Committee released 2 new protocols for ACTION centers. The Transfusion Rationalization on Pediatric Ventricular Assist Devices and the Impella Percutaneous Temporary VAD Management in Pediatric Patient protocols are both now on Basecamp.
Protocols are available on Basecamp: Non-PHI Discussion & Clinician Files > Docs & Files > Harmonized Protocols & Guidelines
Feedback or suggested edits for these documents? Email: Lauren Smyth
2020 Highlights Report
Now Available!
Check out the newly released 2020 ACTION Highlights Report!
Thanks to our amazing network of providers, patients, families, researchers, industry & regulatory members for collaborating to achieve these results!
2020 Data Report
Now Available!
Check out the newly released 2020 Report: Device Support in Pediatric Heart Failure
Almost every pediatric hospital in the U.S. that performs pediatric VAD surgeries is a member of ACTION. Together, we comprise the largest nationwide effort to improve outcomes for pediatric heart failure and VAD patients.
This baseline report represents data collected from a large variety of ACTION sites from January–December of 2020.
Quality Improvement Updates
Discharge Project
The March committee meeting has been canceled as the leadership is meeting on March 3rd to discuss data strategy for this project. We will also discuss project goals/aims, and potential next interventions. The next Discharge Committee meeting will take place on April 7, 2021. We will share updates and discussion points from our leadership meeting. Please continue to test the Flight Plan and Journey Map, and enter data into REDCap on any patients who have been discharged or transferred to the floor.
Stroke Project
We believe that we can drive down strokes even further and are working on re-launching ABCs 2.0 soon. During ACTION’s fall meeting there was encouraging discussion around how we can use real time data and an M&M-type of sharing forum to learn from past strokes to make improvements. Stay tuned for more details coming in the next few months! Additionally, the REDCap fields have been revamped to make it easier and faster to enter data. Please continue to enter data into REDCap for your VAD patients for the first 8 weeks of implant.
Telehealth Project
Teams & telehealth leadership have recently agreed to shift the project focus. The peak of telehealth visits/telehealth utilization seemed to spike during the first couple months of COVID, and rates of use have fallen since then. Telehealth is still a valuable tool we would like to continue to use and test in ACTION. Our next focus will be on using telehealth to optimize and uptitrate medicines for heart failure patients. More details to come as we begin designing this next phase of the project!
Heart Failure Project
We excitedly launched the Heart Failure Improvement Project last month on January 26th with 22 sites! Teams are testing 2 interventions: a communication checklist and a discharge plan. We are aiming to reduce length of stay for heart failure patients admitted to the hospital, as well as decrease readmissions. Stay tuned for data and project updates from this new group!
Registry Database
Updates
Impella Collaboration & Retrospective Data Entry
ACTION is proud to announce a new collaboration. Working together with Abiomed, we are collecting data to be used for submission to the FDA for pediatric labeling of the Impella. This will entail retrospective data collection of Impella key outcomes over the past few years. This effort will be led by Dr. Sebastian Tume, will commence in January and is open to all ACTION centers (but is completely voluntary, and will only be relevant for those sites with Impella experience). If you are interested in participating or learning more, please contact Christy Larkins.
Retrospective Data Entry in ACTION
Please see this document for a streamlined version of data entry that can be done for patients treated prior to your site enrollment into ACTION (retrospective data). This is voluntary, by site. Some sites might choose to do this in order to have access to the full range of analytics provided by the ACTION site-level reports. This can help with site dashboards, and as baseline data for internal benchmarking and QI. If you are interested in doing this, have a look at the retrospective CRFs – they are very much reduced from the prospective data entry, and (nearly) everything can be found in the Pedimacs dataset, if you have already enrolled your patient there.
Open Positions in ACTION Centers
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Looking for: Faculty Physician: Pediatric Heart Failure and Transplantation
Responsibilities: This position is in the subspecialty area of Advanced Heart Failure and Transplantation, with opportunities to participate in associated areas of non-invasive imaging, exercise testing, pulmonary hypertension or preventative cardiology, depending on training and experience. Interest in clinical and translational research will be considered. The position is a full-time appointment at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles main campus. The role will involve both inpatient service, and outpatient consultative cardiology with an emphasis on the area of subspecialty.
To Apply: The official job posting is pending at Keck School of Medicine at USC
Email Contact: Paul Kantor, Division Chief, Pediatric Cardiology
