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The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of the Engaging Parents in Education for Discharge (ePED) iPad application on parent experiences of hospital discharge teaching and care coordination. Hypotheses were: parents exposed to discharge teaching using ePED will have 1) higher quality of discharge teaching and 2) better care coordination than parents exposed to usual discharge teaching. The secondary purpose examined group differences in the discharge teaching, care coordination, and 30-day readmissions for parents of children with and without a chronic condition. Design/Methods Using a quasi-experimental design, ePED was implemented on one inpatient unit (n = 211) and comparison group (n = 184) from a separate unit at a pediatric academic medical center. Patient experience outcome measures collected on day of discharge included Quality of Discharge Teaching Scale-Delivery (QDTS-D) and care coordination measured by Care Transition Measure (CTM). Thirty-day readmission was abstracted from records. Results Parents taught using ePED reported higher QDTS-D scores than parents without ePED (p = .002). No differences in CTM were found between groups. Correlations between QDTS-D and CTM were small for ePED (r = 0.14, p 0.03) and non-ePED (r = 0.29, p < .001) parent groups. CTM was weakly associated with 30-day readmissions in the ePED group. Conclusion The use of ePED by the discharging nurse enhances parent-reported quality of discharge teaching. Practice implications The ePED app is a theory-based structured conversation guide to engage parents in discharge preparation. Nursing implementation of ePED contributes to optimizing the patient/family healthcare experience.

Background The absence of high‐resolution esophageal manometry (HREM) norms in pediatrics limits the assessment of children with dysphagia. This study aimed to describe HREM parameters in a cohort of children without dysphagia. Methods Children ages 9–16 years with a negative Mayo Dysphagia Questionnaire screen and normal histologic findings underwent HREM after completion of esophagogastroduodenoscopy. Ten swallows of 5 ml 0.45% saline boluses per subject were captured in supine position. Analyzed data included resting and integrated relaxation pressures (IRP) of lower (LES) and upper (UES) esophageal sphincters, peristaltic contractile integrals, transition zone (TZ) breaks, velocities, and lengths associated with proximal and distal esophagus. Key Results 33 subjects (15 female) with mean (range) age 12.9 (9–16) years completed the study. Two of 330 analyzed swallows failed. The UES mean resting pressure, and its 0.2 s and 0.8 s IRPs were 48.3 (95% CI 12.9) mmHg, 2.9 (95% CI 1.9) mmHg, and 12.1 (95% CI 2.5) mmHg, respectively. The LES mean resting pressure and its 4 s IRP were 29.0 (95% CI 4.0) mmHg and 9.2 (95% CI 1.3) mmHg. The mean proximal (PCI) and distal (DCI) esophageal contractile integrals were 231 (95% CI 54.8) mmHg‐s‐cm and 1789.3 (95% CI 323.5) mmHg‐s‐cm, with mean TZ break 0.5 (95% CI 0.3) cm. Conclusions & Inferences This is the first study to describe HREM parameters in children without dysphagia. Most of the reported measurements were significantly different and less variable from reported adult norms. This emphasizes the need for child‐specific catheters, norms, and protocols to define pediatric esophageal motility disorders.

Pediatric gastroparesis is associated with a wide spectrum of symptoms including post-prandial fullness, nausea, vomiting, bloating, and upper abdominal pain. 1 It is a disabling illness that is challenging to manage, in part due to lack of a reliable diagnostic test that can predict treatment outcomes. 2 The 4-h nuclear scintigraphy scan remains the most common test performed in children presenting with symptoms associated with delayed gastric emptying (GE). It is generally regarded as the gold standard test