Connected Care welcomes ideas for QuickHits from patients, family caregivers, health care providers and more! If you have an idea for a QuickHit, please send to connectedcare.inquiries@sickkids.ca
Over 50 Quick Hits have been developed to inform care of children with medical complexity in home and community care:
This QuickHiT comes from Connected Care Resource Nurses who identify it as a potential risk when they receive consults from home care nurses seeking up-to-date orders for a child with medical complexity/technology dependence.
Connected Care Live is a service delivered by SickKids nurses who have expert knowledge and access to high-quality resources, but as Registered Nurses, they cannot give an order to be carried out as part of the child’s medical plan of care.
Read MoreThis QuickHiT was identified through a consult a home care nurse initiated with Connected Care Live regarding a patient that presented to a community hospital emergency department for a dislodged G-tube. This hospital visit became necessary because there was no emergency dislodgment kit present in the child’s home. The kit has the equipment necessary to maintain tract patency when an enteral feeding tube is dislodged accidentally.
Read MoreAt a recent Connected Care CVAD workshop, home care nurses told us that they were removing CVAD caps to access a CVL line for blood work and/or to heparin lock the line. They shared that they didn’t know that syringes (including saline flush and heparin lock syringes) attach directly to the cap.
Read MoreAt a recent Connected Care Central Venous Access Device (CVAD) workshop, home care nurses identified that they were unsure about what is included in an emergency CVAD kit and identified that some families do not have an emergency CVAD kit at home.
Read MoreThis QuickHiT! came from a consult initiated by a home care nurse who texted Connected Care Live! for clarification about the use of normal saline drops via tracheostomy. In this situation, the child's family had previously learned to routinely instill saline prior to suctioning but this practice differed from the nurse's employer's policy.
This Quick hit alert was identified by a family caregiver in the home setting. It was identified that the pressure gauge of the suction machine (portable or standing) should be checked every time a child is suctioned. Dials and settings on suction machines (older and newer types) can change or “slip” between uses resulting in inadequate suction power.
Read MoreAt recent Connected Care education sessions, home care nurses described being unsure about what is included in an Emergency Tracheostomy Kit
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