Use of the ReSVinet Scale for parents and healthcare workers in a paediatric emergency service: a prospective study

Abstract

IntroductionMost scales for acute respiratory infection (ARI) are limited to healthcare worker (HCW) use for clinical decision-making. The Respiratory Syncytial Virus network (ReSVinet) Scale offers a version for parents that could potentially help as an early warning system.ObjectiveTo determine whether or not the ReSVinet Scale for ARI in infants can be reliably used by HCWs and parents in an emergency service.MethodsA prospective study was done of infants with ARI who were admitted to a paediatric emergency room to assess the ReSVinet Scale when used by faculty (paediatric doctor-professors), residents (doctors doing their first specialty in paediatrics) and parents. Spearman’s correlation and a weighted kappa coefficient were used to measure interobserver agreement. Internal consistency was also tested by Cronbach’s alpha test.ResultsOverall, 188 patients, 58% male, were enrolled. A Spearman’s correlation of 0.92 for faculty and resident scoring and 0.64 for faculty or resident and parent scoring was found. The weighted kappa coefficients were 0.78 for faculty versus residents, 0.41 for faculty versus parents, and 0.41 for residents versus parents. Cronbach’s alpha test was 0.67 for faculty, 0.62 for residents and 0.69 for parents.ConclusionThere was good correlation in the ReSVinet scores between health professionals when used in the paediatric emergency area. Agreement between parents and health professionals was found to be more variable. Future studies should focus on finding ways to improve its reliability when used by parents before the scale is used in the emergency room.

External Validation of the Discriminative Validity of the ReSVinet Score and Development of Simplified ReSVinet Scores in Secondary Care

“…For this study, we made use of three existing datasets. One recently published dataset was used to develop candidate simplified scores [11,12], and these scores were subsequently externally validated in three additional datasets, all of which have already been used to validate the original ReSVinet score and their findings published [5,13]. Further detail on each dataset can be found below; the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the datasets are listed in Supplementary Table 2.…”

“…Subsequently we externally validated the simplified scores in two datasets, henceforth referred to as the Camacho-Cruz and Hakizimana datasets respectively. In this section, we provide a high-level summary of each dataset; however more detailed information on the methods can be found in the original study publications [5,13].…”

“…The Camacho-Cruz dataset was collected in a prospective observational cohort study of children (<24 months) presenting to the emergency department at a single general hospital in Colombia with an acute respiratory infection with the aim of externally validating the reliability of the ReSVinet score [13]. The ReSVinet score was taken simultaneously by parents, paediatric doctor-professors (faculty) and residents in the emergency room.…”

Measuring respiratory syncytial virus infection severity in hospitalized children using the Pediatric Respiratory Syncytial Virus Electronic Severity and Outcome Rating System (PRESORS)

“…8 The ClinRO and ObsRO measures were developed in parallel based on ethnographic and qualitative interview studies with clinicians and caregivers of children with RSV and consultations with pediatric clinical experts. [8][9][10][11] Other tools in development include the Respiratory Syncytial Virus Network (ReSViNET) Scale, 12,13 the Global Respiratory Severity Score (GRSS), 14 and the Gilead RSV Caregiver Diary (GRCD). 7 For clinician ratings, an RSV severity rating scale needs to be reliable such that different clinicians provide the same rating for the same child.…”