SBIR-STTR Award

Each year, 20 million US children are injured, affecting the child, his/her family, and society, which often bears the cost. Among school-age children age 8 to 12, injuries lead to 2 million emergency department (ED) visits and 40,000-50,000 hospital admissions annually, resulting in $6 billion in medical costs and $11 billion more in work loss costs. Approximately 1 in 6 injured children will develop posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) that persist for months and interfere with recovery. Although PTSS has been shown to be associated with health and functional outcomes following injury, few health systems routinely address PTSS in injured pediatric patients. This project proposes to address this critical, systemic problem by focusing on the gap between current approaches for identifying PTSS and the needs of injured children, their families, health care providers, and health systems. We propose an integrated screening and intervention system that takes advantage of advances in e-Health and developmentally-appropriate engagement strategies, as well as a shifting economic landscape that provides health systems with incentives for optimizing short- and long-term patient outcomes and for meaningful use of health information technology. We will develop a prototype system and evaluate its usability, feasibility, and utility among key user groups. Simultaneously, we will evaluate the technical feasibility of implementation and delineate an initial commercialization plan grounded in extensive learning from key stakeholders.

Public Health Relevance Statement:


Public Health Relevance:
Each year, 20 million US children are injured; approximately 1 in 6 of them will develop posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) that persist for months and interfere with recovery. There is currently no practical validated means to screen children for PTSS in a timely fashion and connect screening results to follow-up care. The proposed project will extend and enhance an ongoing collaborative project between Radiant and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to develop a robust, integrated online pediatric PTSS screening and intervention program.

Project Terms:
Accountability; Acute; Address; Adherence (attribute); Admission activity; Affect; Age; Businesses; Caring; Child; Childhood; Childhood Injury; Client satisfaction; Clinical; Collaborations; commercialization; cost; design; Economics; eHealth; Emergency department visit; evidence base; Face; Family; Family health status; follow-up; functional outcomes; genetic pedigree; Health; health information technology; Health Personnel; Health system; Hospitals; improved; Incentives; Industry; injured; Injury; innovation; Intervention; intervention program; Interview; Lead; Learning; Marketing; Medical; Modeling; Notification; novel; Outcome; Pain; Parents; Patient-Focused Outcomes; Pediatric Hospitals; pediatric patients; pediatric trauma; Phase; Philadelphia; Physicians; post-traumatic stress; preference; Probability; programs; prototype; Provider; public health relevance; Recovery; Research Design; Research Project Grants; Resources; Risk; School-Age Population; screening; Screening Result; Small Business Technology Transfer Research; Societies; software systems; Solutions; Symptoms; System; Technology; Testing; Time; tool; trauma care; Trauma patient; Triage; Ursidae Family; usability; Vendor; web based interface; web site; Work

Pediatric injury is the leading cause of child mortality and acquired disability in the United States, affecting 20 million children annually. Among school age children alone, more than 2 million are treated in Emergency Department or admitted to the hospital annually for injury, incurring billions in medical and work-loss costs each year. After hospital discharge, many injured children experience pain that is not well-controlled, and approximately 1 in 6 develops persistent posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Both pain and PTSS have been shown to be associated with health and functional outcomes following injury. Health systems face increasing economic accountability for short- and long-term patient outcomes, but few have the ability to routinely screen for indicators of modifiable factors for poor recovery in injured pediatric patients after discharge from the hospital or emergency department, hampering follow-up care and impairing optimal outcomes. There is currently no practical, validated means to screen children, post-discharge, for pain, PTSS and functional recovery in a timely fashion and to make these data actionable to healthcare system stakeholders or to beneficiaries such as parents. We propose a novel, validated child self-report screening system that is delivered to pediatric trauma patients in a child-friendly modality, scored in real time, and integrated with external healthcare IT systems. The system addresses an urgent unmet need, and will transform pediatric trauma care by connecting screening results to follow-up care and predictive analytics to improve injury outcomes. Building on Phase I efforts that demonstrated the system’s feasibility, usability, subjective appeal and commercial potential, and learned from key stakeholders, this Phase II project continues system development and commercialization, with the active involvement of a potential customer. The integrated digital screening system takes advantage of advances in e-Health and developmentally-appropriate user engagement strategies, as well as a shifting economic landscape that provides health systems with incentives for optimizing short- and long-term patient outcomes and achieving meaningful use of health information technology. The proposed technology-transfer and commercialization effort is supported by a decade-long strong industry/academic technology transfer partnership that is ideally suited for pediatric trauma care transformation.

Public Health Relevance Statement:
PROJECT NARRATIVE Each year, 20 million US children are injured, with more than 2 million treated in the ED or admitted to the hospital; after discharge many experience pain that is not well-managed, and approximately 1 in 6 of them will develop posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) that persist for months and interfere with recovery. There is currently no practical validated means to screen children for pain, PTSS, and functional recovery in a timely fashion and connect screening results to follow-up care. The proposed project will extend and enhance an ongoing collaborative project between Radiant and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to develop a robust, integrated online pediatric PTSS screening and intervention program.

Project Terms:
Accident and Emergency department; Accountability; Acute; Address; Admission activity; Affect; base; beneficiary; Caring; Child; Child health care; Child Mortality; Childhood; Childhood Injury; Chronic Disease; Clinical Research; clinically relevant; cohort; commercialization; Computer software; cost; Data; design; Development; digital; disability; Economics; eHealth; Evaluation; experience; Face; follow-up; functional outcomes; Funding; Future; game development; Goals; Health; health information technology; Health Personnel; health related quality of life; Health system; Healthcare; Healthcare Systems; high risk; Hospital Departments; Hospitals; Impairment; improved; improved outcome; Incentives; Individual; Industry; Information Systems; injured; Injury; interest; intervention program; Interview; Joints; Knowledge; Managed Care; Measures; Medicaid; Medical; Modality; novel; Outcome; Pain; Parents; Patient Self-Report; Patient-Focused Outcomes; Patients; Pediatric Hospitals; pediatric patients; pediatric trauma; Pennsylvania; Persistent pain; Phase; Philadelphia; post-traumatic stress; Predictive Analytics; preference; product development; Production; programs; Prospective Studies; prototype; Provider; Recovery; Recovery of Function; Recruitment Activity; Reporting; Research; Resources; Risk; School-Age Population; screening; Screening Result; Sickle Cell Anemia; Site; stress symptom; Symptoms; System; Systems Development; Technology Transfer; Testing; Time; tool; Trauma; trauma care; Trauma patient; treatment as usual; United States; United States Health Resources and Services Administration; United States National Institutes of Health; United States Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; Update; usability; Work