158 - Early Results from Doc 2 Doc: Provider Handoffs of Pediatric Unmet Social Needs at Hospital Discharge

Poster Number: 158
Publication Number: 158.411

Madeline C. Mier, Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, Pinellas Park, FL, United States; John M. Morrison, Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, Saint Petersburg, FL, United States; Raquel G. Hernandez, Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, St. Petersburg, FL, United States

Background: In recent years, a greater focus has been placed on developing and implementing screening protocols for unmet social needs (USN) in a variety of pediatric settings, but critical gaps remain in practices that can best bridge identified USN from inpatient to outpatient settings. Prioritizing USN handoffs, the specific communication between hospitalists and ambulatory pediatricians reflecting patients’ USN identified during hospitalization, may enhance communication strategies and improve health outcomes for children.

Objective: To compare the attitudes and beliefs of inpatient and outpatient pediatric providers regarding the concept of an USN handoff for hospitalized children.

Design/Methods: We performed a cross-sectional survey of two provider populations - 1) pediatric hospitalists and 2) ambulatory general pediatricians from our institution and surrounding community. Surveys were designed for each group based upon the Health Beliefs Model. Each survey included six major domains (Figure 1) to assess respective providers’ beliefs regarding an USN handoff and explore motivators associated with either an increased willingness to provide an USN handoff (hospitalists) or increased confidence to utilize an USN handoff (ambulatory pediatricians).

Results: 32 participants completed the study, 16 self-identified pediatric hospitalists and 16 ambulatory pediatricians. While hospitalists noted an overall greater prevalence of patients with one or more USN, both groups identified poverty as the social need with the greatest impact on patients’ health and wellbeing. Discordance was noted between the percentage of hospitalists stating they have ever provided a handoff including information on USN (81%) and outpatient pediatricians stating they have ever received such a handoff (25%). Variability related to how social needs were prioritized as life-threatening in clinical scenarios was also seen (Table 2). Despite differences in reported barriers, agreement was observed in reporting an unmet social needs handoff as “valuable” or “highly valuable”. All hospitalists were “willing” or “very willing” to provide an USN handoff, while the median IQR of outpatient pediatricians’ confidence to utilize such a handoff was 8/10.Conclusion(s): Our early data demonstrate both hospitalists and ambulatory pediatricians within our institution and local community find the novel concept of an unmet social needs handoff to be valuable. Further exploration with a larger sample size may inform the most feasible way to implement the use of an USN handoff.
CV - Madeline MierCV - Maddie Mier.pdf
Table 1. Motivating Factors and Discharge Handoff Practices/Preferences