Background: Higher patient-to-nurse ratios and nursing workload are associated with increased mortality in the adult intensive care unit (ICU). Most neonatal ICUs (NICUs) in the United Kingdom do not meet national staffing recommendations. The impact of staffing on outcomes in the NICU is unknown. Objective: To determine how nurse-to-patient ratios or nursing workload affects outcomes in the NICU. Methods: Two authors (M.S., S.S.) searched PubMed, Medline, and EMBASE for eligible studies. Included studies reported on both the outcomes of infants admitted to a NICU and nurse-to-patient ratios or workload, and were published between 1/1990 and 4/2010 in any language. The primary outcome was mortality before discharge, relative to nurse-to-patient ratios. Secondary outcomes were intraventricular hemorrhage, daily weight gain, days on assisted ventilation, days on oxygen and nosocomial infection. Study quality was assessed with the STROBE checklist. Results: Seven studies met the inclusion criteria. Three reported on the same group of patients. Only four studies reported death before discharge from the NICU relative to nurse-to-patient ratios. Three reported an association between lower nurse-to-patient ratios and higher mortality, and one reported just the opposite. Because each study used a different definition of nurse staffing, a meta-analysis could not be performed. Conclusions: Nurse-to-patient ratios appear to affect outcomes of neonatal intensive care, but limitations of the existing literature prevent clear conclusions about optimal staffing strategies. Evidence-based standards for staffing could impact public policy and lead to improvements in patient safety and decreased rates of adverse outcomes. More research on this subject, including a standard and valid measure of nursing workload, is urgently needed.

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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Short courses of antibiotics are often indicated for uncomplicated skin and soft tissue infections (uSSTIs). Our objective was to decrease duration of antibiotics prescribed in children hospitalized for uSSTIs by using quality improvement (QI) methods. METHODS: QI methods were used to decrease duration of antibiotics prescribed upon hospital discharge for uSSTIs. We sought to accomplish this goal by increasing outpatient prescriptions for short courses of therapy (≤7 days). Key drivers included awareness of evidence among physicians, changing the culture of prescribing, buy-in from prescribers, and monitoring of prescribing. Physician education, modification of antibiotic order sets for discharge prescriptions, and continual identification and mitigation of therapy plans, were key interventions implemented by using plan-do-study-act cycles. A run chart assessed the impact of the interventions over time. RESULTS: We identified 641 index admissions for uSSTIs over a 23-month period for patients aged >90 days to 18 years. The proportion of children discharged with short courses of antibiotics increased from a baseline median of 23% to 74%, which was sustained for 6 months. Differences in the proportion of children admitted for treatment failure or recurrence before and after project initiation were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: Using QI methodology, we decreased duration of antibiotics prescribed in children hospitalized for uSSTIs by increasing prescriptions for short courses of antibiotics. Modification of electronic order sets for discharge prescriptions allowed for sustained improvement in prescribing practices. Our findings support the use of shorter outpatient antibiotic courses in most children with uSSTIs, and suggest criteria for complicated SSTIs.

Background: Children with atopic dermatitis (AD) are often sensitized to food and aeroallergens, but sensitization patterns have not been analysed with biologic measures of disease pathogenicity. Objective:We sought to define allergen sensitization grouping(s) using unbiased machine learning and determine their associations with skin filaggrin (FLG) and transepidermal water loss (TEWL) (assesses skin barrier integrity), S100A8 and S100A9 expression (assesses skin inflammation) and AD severity. Methods:We studied 400 children with AD in the Mechanisms of Progression from Atopic Dermatitis to Asthma in Children (MPAACH) cohort to identify groupings of food and aeroallergen sensitizations. MPAACH is a paediatric AD cohort, aged 1-2, recruited through hospital/community settings between 2016 and 2018. We analysed these groupings' associations with AD biomarkers: skin FLG, S100A8 and S100A9 expression, total IgE, TEWL and AD severity.Results: An unbiased machine learning approach revealed five allergen clusters. The most common cluster (N = 131), SPT PEP, had sensitization to peanut, egg and/or pets. Three low prevalence clusters, which included children with allergen sensitization other than peanut, egg or pets, were combined into SPT Other . SPT NEG included children with no sensitization(s). SPT PEP children had higher median non-lesional TEWL (16.9 g/m 2 /h) and IgE (90 kU/L) compared with SPT OTHER (8.8 g/m 2 /h and 24 kU/L; p = .01 and p < .001) and SPT NEG (9 g/m 2 /h and 26 kU/L; p = .003 and p < .001). SPT PEP children had lower median lesional (0.70) and non-lesional (1.09) FLG expression compared with SPT OTHER (lesional: 0.9; p = .047, non-lesional: 1.78; p = .01) and SPT NEG (lesional: 1.47; p < .001, non-lesional: 2.21; p < .001). There were no differences among groupings in S100A8 or S100A9 expression. Conclusions and clinical relevance:In this largely clinic-based cohort of young children with AD, allergic sensitization to peanut, egg, cat or dog was associated with more severe disease and skin barrier function but not markers of cutaneous inflammation. These data need replicating in a population-based cohort but may have important implications for understanding the interaction between AD and allergic sensitization. | 667 SHERENIAN Et Al.

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The commensal-epidermal homeostasis within healthy skin protects against allergic disease by inducing epidermal accumulation of commensal-specific type 1 and type 17 immune cells and increasing the expression of antimicrobial peptides and alarmins that target proallergic bacteria. The composition of skin microbiome and epidermal barrier integrity are interdependent, and disruption in one (eg, filaggrin mutations or dysbiosis) disrupts the other. Skin microbiome dysbiosis contributes to progression and exacerbation of allergic diseases, such as atopic dermatitis, food allergy, allergic rhinitis, and asthma. Current and potential treatments affecting the skin microbiome include emollients, restoration of skin commensals and antimicrobial peptides, and anti-T H 2 biologic therapy. Maintenance of the skin barrier is the primary prevention for the development or exacerbation of atopic disorders; however, studying preventions targeting the skin microbiome is needed.