Dear Community,
We are excited to announce that we launched the Heart Failure Quality Improvement Project on January 26th, with 22 sites participating! We are testing 2 interventions: a communication checklist and a discharge planning process. The goal is to reduce length of stay, and decrease readmission rates, for heart failure patients admitted to the hospital with ADHF.
The design work for this project was a testament to the resilience and commitment of the entire ACTION team, as the kickoff took place in March 2020, and #covid. Despite the distractions and logistical challenges, the team persevered and brought this project to a successful launch. This should serve as an inspiration to all of us, to continue the important work of ACTION in the coming year, despite ongoing challenges in the way we meet and work. We look forward to additional heart failure projects in 2021!
Stay safe and healthy,
ACTION Experience with the HVAD™ System
February 11, 2021
4:00 PM Eastern
Moderator
Mary Mehegan, RN
St. Louis Children’s Hospital
Featured Presentations
Latebreaking HVAD data in ACTION
Scott Auerbach, MD
Children’s Hospital Colorado
Surgical tips for successful HVAD use in pediatrics and congenital heart disease
Katsuhide Maeda, MD
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Bedside pearls for successful HVAD use in pediatrics and congenital heart disease
Katrina Fields, BSN
Cincinnati Children’s
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Please submit any questions that you would like for our presenters to discuss on the registration page.
Please register by February 10, 2021. Registration is free and open to anyone interested in participating. To join us, click below:
Upcoming EventsFebruary 11, 2021 March 5th, 12–4pm ET & March 11, 2021 April 5–6, 2021, 2–5pm ET |
New CentersRady Children’s Hospital San Diego
Hassenfeld Children's Hospital at NYU Langone Medical Center
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Check it out!
All 8 of ACTION's submitted abstracts to ISHLT were accepted!
All 8 of ACTION's submitted abstracts to the annual ISHLT Scientific Meeting in April 2021were accepted! Congratulations to our authors and our community.
The ACTION Quality Improvement Collaborative: 2020 Annual Report, David Rosenthal et al.
- The Adjudication Process at ACTION—Providing Real-World High-Quality Data, Muhammad Shezad et al.
- Characterization of Strokes in Children on Ventricular Assist Devices: An Action Collaborative Analysis, Dave Peng et al.
- The ABC's Of Stroke Prevention: Reduction In Stroke Frequency Following A Quality Improvement Intervention By The Action Learning Network, Jenna Murray et al.
- Ventricular Assist Device Outcomes In Children And Young Adults With Muscular Dystrophy: An ACTION Analysis, Deipanjan Nandi et al.
- Length Of Stay And Readmission Rates In Pediatric Acute Heart Failure, Danielle Burstein et al.
- Atrial Cannulation in Pediatric Mechanical Circulatory Support, John Dykes et al.
- 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.
My ACTION Education
Last month, we launched the remaining Knowing Your Device and Understanding Surgery topic on myactioneducation.org! The educational information on VADs, other devices, and surgery is extensive and in-depth, therefore we are restricting access to this particular topic. In order to view the content, users must either request access or be granted access. Users will need to create a free login to receive access. Each ACTION site will have a unique URL to provide patients, caregivers, and providers in order for them to gain access to this topic. Please email us with any questions about this new content and/or access to this information.
We are preparing to send out two VAD patient handbooks to ACTION centers. The HeartMate 3™ LVAD patient handbook will be sent to centers by Abbott. The HVAD™ System patient handbook will be sent to centers by ACTION. The HeartMate 3™ LVAD digital handbook is available to download on myactioneducation.org. It's located under Knowing Your Device & Understanding Surgery > VADs > Types > Continuous Flow > HeartMate 3™ LVAD. (An HVAD™ System digital handbook is coming soon).
Quality Improvement Updates
Discharge Project
The February committee meeting has been canceled as the leadership is meeting on February 9th to discuss data strategy for this project. We will also discuss project goals/aims, including the use of VAD education materials as a potential next intervention to test to improve discharge rates. The next Discharge Committee meeting will take place on March 3, 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 continued to learn how to use the sFMEA tool to identify barriers during the telehealth process, and Bethany Wisotzkey presented the Phoenix Children’s Hospital telehealth process, barriers, and improvement opportunities. We discussed goals and future aims for the direction of the project, and we will continue brainstorming with leadership. Intervention testing of the algorithm around defining which patients qualify for virtual visits and sharing education materials for providers/care teams and patients/families continue, as well. The next huddle is on February 10, 2021. Please continue to enter your data into REDCap for the provider and patient surveys.
Heart Failure Project
We excitedly launched the Heart Failure Improvement Project this 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.
