Project Description
Interdisciplinary Pediatric Telehospice Consultations for Hospice Teams
Despite
35+ pediatric hospice discharges to rural providers each year in Nebraska;
primary care providers, hospice directors, and hospice nurses in Nebraska
report they feel unprepared to manage pediatric hospice patients. In this pilot
intervention study guided by the Theory of Unpleasant Symptoms, web
conferencing services will connect an inpatient pediatric palliative care team
with adult outpatient hospice providers to support local providers in assessing
pediatric-specific care needs and implementing developmentally-appropriate
pediatric treatment plans for 10-20 medically-complex children. The objective
of this CALLiNGS (Care Across Locations Longitudinally in Navigation of Goals
and Symptoms) mixed-methods study is to test feasibility, acceptability, and
clinical outcomes from using web-conferencing technology to connect a
hospital-based interdisciplinary pediatric palliative care with statewide
field-based hospice teams during interdisciplinary meetings at a minimum of
every 15 calendar days. Randomization will occur at the hospice level with one
hospice randomized to receive pediatric palliative care direct patient
mentorship and the other hospice randomized to receive general pediatric
palliative care educational modules (60-min each session). The study team
hypothesizes that telepalliative care for children has the potential to improve
the quality of care delivered to pediatric palliative care patients in a rural
state by facilitating the confidence and comfort of local providers, enhancing
goals of care conversations, improving symptom management for patients and
therefore quality of life for family members, and creating a unified and
cross-setting shared care model. The study intends to determine whether direct
patient-specific pediatric mentorship or general pediatric palliative education
is more helpful for hospice staff, for patient symptoms, and for family quality
of life. If feasible this model could transform the pediatric palliative care
delivery in the state of Nebraska with expanded opportunity for application in
settings with similar subspecialty provider shortages.
Bio
Meaghann Weaver, MD, MPH, FAAP currently serves as Division
Chief, Pediatric Palliative Care at the Children’s Hospital and Medical Center
in Omaha, Nebraska. Meaghann graduated from Creighton University Summa Cum
Laude with a major in Theology and a co-major in African Studies. After medical
school, she completed her pediatric residency in Virginia and then completed a
pediatric oncology/hematology fellowship at St Jude Children’s Research
Hospital with additional research training at DC Children’s National Health
Systems. She then completed an additional fellowship in palliative care and
hospice at the National Institutes of Health. Meaghann received her public
health degree (global health epidemiology) from George Washington University.
Meaghann is interested in supportive care and complex symptom management for
patients, spirituality in healthcare, caregiver resilience, patient-provider
communication, patient reported outcomes, global health, implementation
science, and integrative/complementary modalities.
Email: meweaver@childrensomaha.org