title: Group visits in the pediatric heart transplant outpatient clinic.
abstract: The "GVM" has emerged as an alternative to traditional individualized appointments in the ambulatory care setting. We hypothesized that group visits could successfully be utilized in a PHtx clinic. Seven patients, ages 1-18 yr old, and their families participated in a total of 11 group visits in lieu of individualized appointments. Patients were divided into two groups based on whether they were greater or less than one yr post-transplant. Patient/provider satisfaction, medication adherence, and content retention were ascertained via questionnaires and free-response tests. Total clinic throughput time, including per-patient clinic utilization time, was compared to historical data. Six of seven patients completed the study with one dropout. Overall satisfaction ratings were 3.98 of 4 with all patients reporting that they would "strongly recommend" group visits to others. Health information retention tests demonstrated improvement between pre- and post-tests in eight of nine (89%) of the group visits. Overall clinic utilization decreased by nearly 50% while providing 70 min of face-to-face time with the provider. Medication adherence neared 100% for all patients. The GVM can be successfully applied to the PHtx population with high patient and provider satisfaction, more face-to-face time, excellent content retention, and greatly improved clinic efficiency.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics (Cardiology), Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Seth A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Hollander
authors.affiliation: Transplantation Services, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: McDonald
authors.affiliation: Transplantation Services, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Donna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics (Cardiology), Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Lindsay J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: May
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics (Cardiology), Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, CA, USA.|Spectrum Child Health, Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health & Child Health Research, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Lan N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Doan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics (Cardiology), Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Beth D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Kaufman
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics (Cardiology), Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
authors.forename: David N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Rosenthal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016903:Drug Monitoring
keywords: group visits; heart transplantation; outpatient; pediatrics