We released studies that validate two tools to enhance and improve how we can better assess two care domains in our patients. The first, by Manganello et al. (10.1542/peds.2016-3286), introduces a new instrument to assess adolescent health literacy and the second, by Cravero et al., (10.1542/peds.2016-2897) helps to better identify the effectiveness and quality of care of pediatric procedural sedation that some of us administer to our patients. In the Manganello study, the authors validate the use of a ten item short form in comparison to a 66 item longer form to identify health literacy issues in teens. The 66 item form is called the Rapid Estimate for Adolescent Literacy in Medicine (REALM) and is well validated but takes a long time to administer preventing its usage by most practitioners. The shortened version (REALM-TeenS) is nicely validated in this study and its usage going forward could result in more of us identifying health literacy issues in our older patients that can help us better provide appropriate literacy levels of advice and care to our patients.
The second validation study involves the Pediatric Sedation State Scale (PSSS), designed using Delphi methods of experts who found 6 sedations states defined using this tool. The study then validated the effectiveness and quality of procedural sedation using this tool compared to other previously validated sedation scales that are not widely used.
After reading these two validation studies, would you want to implement either tool into your practice? Let us know by sharing a response to this blog, posting on our Comment page on our website, or by including a comment on our Facebook or Twitter websites.
