American Academy of Pediatrics

Objectives: Children with medical complexity (CMC) are commonly assisted by medical devices, which family caregivers are responsible for managing and troubleshooting in the home. Optimizing device use by maximizing the benefits and minimizing the complications is a critical goal for CMC but is relatively unexplored. In this study, we sought to identify and describe workarounds families have developed to optimize medical device use for their needs. Methods: We conducted 30 contextual inquiry interviews with families of CMC in homes.

The article discusses the effectiveness of family caregiver partnerships in the design and implementation of pediatric palliative care (PPC) research. Also cited are the importance of the perspectives of family caregivers, clinicians and researchers in improving research, and the principles of patient- and family-centered research like honesty, cultural competency, and transparency.

BACKGROUND: Family income is known to affect child health, but this relationship can be bidirectional. We sought to characterize this relationship by quantifying forgone family employment (FFE) due to a child's health condition in families of children with special health care needs (CSHCN) with updated figures. METHODS: We conducted a secondary data analysis from the 2016-2017 National Survey of Children's Health. CSHCN with previously employed caregivers were included (N = 14 050).