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Biomedical subjects

William G Adams

Publications and source records attributed to William G Adams.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Child food insecurity and iron deficiency anemia in low-income infants and toddlers in the United States.

OBJECTIVE: Examine the association between child-level food insecurity and iron status in young children utilizing community-based data from the Children's Sentinel Nutrition Assessment Program (C-SNAP). METHODS: A cross-sectional sample of caregivers of children < or =36 months of age utilizing emergency department (ED) services were interviewed between 6/96-5/01. Caregiver interviews, which included questions on child-level food security, were linked to a primary clinic database containing hemoglobin, red blood cell distribution width, mean corpuscular volume, free erythrocyte protoporphyrin and lead values. Children a priori at-risk for anemia: birthweight < or =2500 g, with HIV/AIDS, sickle cell disease, or lead values > or =10.0 ug/dL, and children < or =6 months of age were excluded from the analysis. Only laboratory tests 365 days prior or 90 days after interview were examined. Iron status was classified in four mutually exclusive categories: 1) Iron Sufficient-No Anemia (ISNA), 2) Anemia (without iron deficiency), 3) Iron Deficient-No Anemia (IDNA), 4) Iron Deficient with Anemia (IDA). RESULTS: 626 ED interviews linked to laboratory data met the inclusion criteria. Food insecure children were significantly more likely to have IDA compared to food secure children [Adjusted Odds Ratio = 2.4, 95% CI (1.1-5.2), p = 0.02]. There was no association between child food insecurity and anemia without iron deficiency or iron deficiency without anemia. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest an association between child level food insecurity and iron deficiency anemia, a clinically important health indicator with known negative cognitive, behavioral and health consequences. Cuts in spending on food assistance programs that address children's food insecurity may lead to adverse health consequences.

Aid to Families with Dependent Children↗
PubMed2006

Diabetes mellitus screening in pediatric primary care.

OBJECTIVE: The goal was to determine the rates of diabetes screening and the prevalence of screening abnormalities in overweight and nonoverweight individuals in an urban primary care clinic. METHODS: This study was a retrospective chart review conducted in a hospital-based urban primary care setting. Deidentified data for patients who were 10 to 19 years of age and had > or = 1 BMI measurement between September 1, 2002, and September 1, 2004, were extracted from the hospital electronic health record. RESULTS: A total of 7710 patients met the study criteria. Patients were 73.0% black or Hispanic and 47.0% female; 42.0% of children exceeded normal weight, with 18.2% at risk for overweight and 23.8% overweight. On the basis of BMI, family history, and race, 8.7% of patients met American Diabetes Association criteria for type 2 diabetes mellitus screening, and 2452 screening tests were performed for 1642 patients. Female gender, older age group, and family history of diabetes were associated with screening. Increasing BMI percentile was associated with screening, exhibiting a dose-response relationship. Screening rates were significantly higher (45.4% vs 19.0%) for patients who met the American Diabetes Association criteria; however, less than one half of adolescents who should have been screened were screened. Abnormal glucose metabolism was seen for 9.2% of patients screened. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that, although pediatricians are screening for diabetes mellitus, screening is not being conducted according to the American Diabetes Association consensus statement. Point-of-care delivery of consensus recommendations could increase provider awareness of current recommendations, possibly improving rates of systematic screening and subsequent identification of children with laboratory evidence of abnormal glucose metabolism.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Medication errors related to computerized order entry for children.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the frequency and types of pediatric medication errors attributable to design features of a computerized order entry system. METHODS: A total of 352 randomly selected, inpatient, pediatric admissions were reviewed retrospectively for identification of medication errors, 3 to 12 months after implementation of computerized order entry. Errors were identified and classified by using an established, comprehensive, active surveillance method. Errors attributable to the computer system were classified according to type. RESULTS: Among 6916 medication orders in 1930 patient-days, there were 104 pediatric medication errors, of which 71 were serious (37 serious medication errors per 1000 patient-days). Of all pediatric medication errors detected, 19% (7 serious and 13 with little potential for harm) were computer related. The rate of computer-related pediatric errors was 10 errors per 1000 patient-days, and the rate of serious computer-related pediatric errors was 3.6 errors per 1000 patient-days. The following 4 types of computer-related errors were identified: duplicate medication orders (same medication ordered twice in different concentrations of syrup, to work around computer constraints; 2 errors), drop-down menu selection errors (wrong selection from a drop-down box; 9 errors), keypad entry error (5 typed instead of 50; 1 error), and order set errors (orders selected from a pediatric order set that were not appropriate for the patient; 8 errors). In addition, 4 preventable adverse drug events in drug ordering occurred that were not considered computer-related but were not prevented by the computerized physician order entry system. CONCLUSIONS: Serious pediatric computer-related errors are uncommon (3.6 errors per 1000 patient-days), but computer systems can introduce some new pediatric medication errors that are not typically seen in a paper ordering system.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Using a registry to improve immunization delivery.

The NJIPSP was successful in encouraging a group of small urban practices to adopt the use of immunization registry and to transform immunization delivery from a mechanistic well-child service to a visible, monitored process of care. The project represents a unique combination of technology, public-private collaboration, and well-established quality improvement techniques. The change process involved the whole office as a team in adopting new immunization delivery roles and services. The greatest barrier to acceptance of the registry was (and continues to be) the need for manual data entry as the primary source of data collection, rather than electronic data transfer from other systems. The manual entry of data was labor intensive for participating practices and affected data measurement. Despite this barrier, however, the majority of practices substantially improved the quality of their immunization delivery practices in multiple areas. The rapid movement of primary care practices toward some form of electronic record may reduce this barrier and increase the percentage of practices willing to use a community registry. Practices that engaged collectively in the change process gained momentum from the group effort. Equally important was the public health partnership that helped identify and reduce improvement obstacles. Sustainability of practice-based immunization changes will rely, in part, on the registry's ease of use and the continued visibility of public health at the practice level. Active practice level collaboration by public health adds great value to change efforts. We believe that the best possible immunization delivery relies on both technology (registries and the EMR) and effective office systems. Projects like the NJIPSP are models for systems that integrate technology, practice change, and quality improvement, and their success has the potential to foster the spread of this approach to other primary care practices (especially in New Jersey). The NJIPSP combination of office-based change approaches and an active partnership and hands on involvement with public health has the potential to support the delivery of consistently excellent immunization delivery.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed2003

Use of an electronic medical record improves the quality of urban pediatric primary care.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the quality of pediatric primary care, including preventive services, before and after the introduction of an electronic medical record (EMR) developed for use in an urban pediatric primary care center. METHODS: A pre-postintervention analysis was used in the study. The intervention was a pediatric EMR. Routine health care maintenance visits for children <5 years old were reviewed, and documentation during preintervention (paper-based, 1998) and postintervention visits (computer-based, 2000) was compared. RESULTS: A total of 235 paper-based visits and 986 computer-based visits met study criteria. Twelve clinicians (all attendings or nurse practitioners) contributed an average of 19.4 paper-based visits (range: 5-39) and 7 of these clinicians contributed an average of 141 computer-based visits each (range: 61-213). Computer-based clinicians were significantly more likely to address a variety of routine health care maintenance topics including: diet (relative risk [RR]: 1.09), sleep (RR: 1.46), at least 1 psychosocial issue (RR: 1.42), smoking in the home (RR: 15.68), lead risk assessment (RR: 106.54), exposure to domestic or community violence (RR: 35.19), guns in the home (RR: 58.11), behavioral or social developmental milestones (RR: 2.49), infant sleep position (RR: 9.29), breastfeeding (RR: 1.99), poison control (RR: 3.82), and child safety (RR: 1.29). Trends toward improved lead exposure, vision, and hearing screening were seen; however, differences were not significant. Users of the system reported that its use had improved the overall quality of care delivered, was well-accepted by families, and improved guidance quality; however, 5 of 7 users reported that eye-to-eye contact with patients was reduced, and 4 of 7 reported that use of the system increased the duration of visits (mean: 9.3 minutes longer). All users recommended continued use of the system. CONCLUSION: Use of the EMR in this study was associated with improved quality of care. This experience suggests that EMRs can be successfully used in busy urban pediatric primary care centers and, as recommended by the Institute of Medicine, must play a central role in the redesign of the US health care system.

Appointments and Schedules↗
PubMed2003

TLC-Asthma: an integrated information system for patient-centered monitoring, case management, and point-of-care decision support.

A great deal of successful work has been done in the area of EMR development, implementation, and evaluation. Less work has been done in the area of automated systems for patients. Efforts to link data at multiple levels - the patient, the case manager, and the clinician have been rudimentary to-date. In this paper we present a model information system that integrates patient health information across multiple domains to support the monitoring and care of children with persistent asthma. The system has been developed for use in a multi-specialty group practice and includes three primary components: 1) a patient-centered telephone-linked communication system; 2) a web-based alert reporting and nurse case-management system; and 3) EMR-based provider communication to support clinical decision making at the point-of-care. The system offers a model for a new level of connectivity for health information that supports customized monitoring, IT-enabled nurse case-managers, and the delivery of longitudinal data to clinicians to support the care of children with persistent asthma. Systems like the one described are well-suited, perhaps essential, technologies for the care of children and adults with chronic conditions such as asthma.

Adolescent↗