For children with complex medical situations, a new roadmap for improving health

Children with severe disabilities, serious cognitive impairments and medically complex situations require more specialized health care during their lifetimes. But establishing a consistent way to identify their overall health needs and measure progress in meeting those needs has been an elusive goal.A team of UCLA researchers has developed a set of health outcome measures for such children using a software program that aggregates the latest research and expertise about how to treat their conditions. Theteam ’s work, published in the  journal Pediatrics, proposes a standard to shape the ideal model of care for children with medical complexity.“What we hope to achieve is to not only reduce the amount of time these children spend in the hospital, but also to help improve their overall quality of life,” said Dr. Elizabeth Barnert, first author of the study and an assistant professor of pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine a t UCLA and UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital. “For these children — and children in general — health also means improving how they’re doing in areas like school, their family relationships and social situations.”Children with medical complexity refers to children with serious chronic conditions and functional limitations that often require dependence on technology and very frequent health care needs. Although only 3 percent of children in the United States are considered to fall into this category, health care spending for the gro...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news