# Telemedicine Consultations to Improve Care Quality of Pediatric Hospital-to-Hospital Transfers

> **NIH NIH K23** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS · 2021 · $162,972

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
The project objective is to improve care quality by making pediatric transfers more family-centered and
effective. This award provides the necessary support to (1) develop skills in instrument development and
testing, research leadership, and health information technology (IT) interventions and (2) gather preliminary
data to support an R01 application to test the effectiveness of telemedicine consultations for pediatric transfers
in a large multi-center randomized trial. I arranged a mentorship team with expertise encompassing instrument
development and testing, research leadership, stakeholder engagement, and health IT (telemedicine).
The focus of this project is the study of hospital-to-hospital transfers. Transfers pose safety risks to patients as
well as burdens and distress to patients and families. Much of this harm is preventable, due to poor information
sharing, lack of shared decision-making, and limited ability of the consulting/receiving physician to make
transfer triage decisions. The use of telemedicine to provide expert consultation prior to initiating a transfer has
potential to mitigate these problems. Telemedicine transforms the communication paradigm to make care
during transfers more family-centered. It permits the consulting physician to virtually be at the patient’s
bedside, ensuing more collaborative conversations that improve information sharing, shared decision-making,
and trust. To effectively improve family-centered care during transfers, we need a validated method to measure
this outcome in the context of pediatric emergency department (ED) encounters with children who are thought
to need a transfer. Randomized trials are also needed to examine telemedicine use for pediatric transfers.
In this proposal, I pursue two Specific Aims: AIM 1: Validate a modified version of an existing instrument that
assesses family-centeredness of care in the newly applied context of ED encounters for children in need of
transfer. AIM 2: Test the feasibility and potential impact of conducting a randomized trial comparing
telemedicine to standard telephone communication for pediatric transfer consultations. This pilot trial utilizes
existing UC Davis telemedicine program infrastructure. Feasibility will be tested using specified objectives for
protocol adherence, fidelity, and survey response rates. Potential impact will be tested to inform future R01 trial
design by exploring responsiveness to the intervention for triage appropriateness outcomes (e.g., potentially
avoidable transfers) and patient and family outcomes (e.g., distress).
By accomplishing these aims, I will validate an instrument to measure family-centeredness of care that other
researchers and health systems can use. Telemedicine is becoming a widely available technology that is
increasingly present in emergency departments, so by testing a telemedicine intervention, this project has
potential for large-scale uptake. This research will change the comm...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10129411
- **Project number:** 5K23HD101550-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS
- **Principal Investigator:** Jennifer Rosenthal
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $162,972
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-06-01 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10129411

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10129411, Telemedicine Consultations to Improve Care Quality of Pediatric Hospital-to-Hospital Transfers (5K23HD101550-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10129411. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*