(A901) A Qualitative Analysis of Pediatric Aerodigestive Care Websites

Introduction: Pediatric airway cases are complex and require a comprehensive aerodigestive team. Families and hospital staff often refer to institutional websites to assess department strength and determine where to take their care. The objective of this study was to qualitatively evaluate the information provided on pediatric aerodigestive program webpages.

Methods: Eighty-five pediatric hospitals were identified through the U.S. News & World Report (USNWR). Programs were assessed for the presence of an aerodigestive-specific webpage and then evaluated against 10 criteria based on expert opinion and prior literature.

Results: Of the 85 pediatric hospitals identified, 56 (65.9%) had aerodigestive-specific webpages. Of these 56 programs, 29 (52.7%) reported the availability of support services (i.e. social work), 21 (38.2%) the presence of a sleep medicine clinic, 41 (74.5%) the availability of feeding clinic, and 43 (76.4%) the presence of motility clinic. Twenty-five programs (45.5%) provided information on respiratory pathologies, such as recurrent pneumonia, and 28 programs (50.9%) displayed information on esophageal pathologies, such as reflux disease. Only 5 programs (9.1%) reported being home to experts in the field, and only 13 programs (23.6%) advertised their associated clinical research. Patient stories were featured by 11 programs (20.0%), and 14 programs (25.5%) offered patient education resources, such as pamphlets or visual aids. Notably, there was a significant negative correlation between USNWR ranking and the number of reported criteria (R2=0.26, p< 0.05).

Conclusions: Less than two-thirds of pediatric hospitals in our cohort had webpages dedicated to complex airway care. Moreover, webpages often lacked key information useful to families in making informed decisions. Next steps will include surveying families regarding what criteria is important to them, and re-assessing websites for these.