Economic Burden of Treatment on Families by J.Connor, M.Hurtig | OPENPediatrics

Описание: Dr. Jean Connor discusses her research on medical costs and the implications on current nursing practice.

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Hello. My name is Michele Hurtig. I'm the Director of Nursing and Patient Services in the Cardiovascular In-Patient and Cardiac ICP at Boston Children's Hospital. Many studies say that the rising cost of health care, along with cost-shifting by employers, have resulted in higher out-of-pocket payments, in the form of premiums, deductibles, and co-payments for families.

As a result of the economic burden and stress experienced during the time of inpatient care for most families, this is a potentially increased stressor. Medical and surgical advances have allowed many congenital heart defects, once considered life-threatening, to be managed as a chronic illness.

Depending on the complexity of the disease, medical and surgical treatment may occur in the newborn period or shortly thereafter. So how does this burden impact families of children with a chronic condition such as congenital heart disease? We are here today with Doctor Jean Connor, Director of Nursing Research for the Cardiovascular Program at Boston Children's Hospital.

We will discuss this very question, and review her outstanding research on the meaning of cost for families of children with congenital heart disease. Good morning, Dr. Connor.

Good morning.

Thank you for joining me today.

Of course.

I was hoping to start off with a little bit of background on how you became a nurse-scientist.

Mm-hm. So, well, for the most of my career, I've actually been a clinician, and have worked with families and children of various diseases, and probably for the last 15, have worked with congenital heart disease families. And just really thinking about what it was that I was doing in being part of their health care team, and preparing them for whatever piece of intervention that they were getting ready to go through.

And so as part of my role, I often would prepare families for congenital heart surgery or cardiac catheterizations. And through all of that teaching and preparation, what was significant to me was the economic questions the families were asking me. I would tell them things, well, you know your child could possibly die or have a stroke.

And after I would finish all of that, they would ask, well, how many days do I have to be out of work? How much money should I bring with me to the hospital? How much do you think the co-pay is? How much do you think my insurance is going to pick up? And so that was very, I think, important for me to understand better.

And so as I went back and sought doctoral study, I thought one of the first things that I wanted to investigate was this whole phenomenon of economic burden. And so that kind of led me on this path of becoming a nurse-scientist.

That's great. And obviously, the interest in cost burden to families.