VALUE US Study
What is the VALUE US Study?
The VALUE US Study is currently being developed and aims to improve the care for children & young people (CYP) with complex care needs, and their families, during emergency department visits and/or overnight hospital stays.
The full study title is:
A realist inter V ention development A nd feasibi L ity st U dy to improv E care for children with complex care needs in the ac U te hospital S etting: The VALUE US Study
How will the study help?
Children with complex care needs may have lots of hospital stays and remain in hospital for long periods of time. We know that during their stay they may experience errors in care and problems due to communication. Therefore children with complex care needs do not always have the best outcomes or experiences of hospital stays.
This study will look at current research to find out what the key elements of good care are, for CYP with complex care needs and their families. Working together with CYP and their families, we will use this information to design some strategies to improve the care for children with complex care needs in the emergency department and inpatient wards. We will then test these strategies to see if they work in improving care and whether any changes are needed to make them work better.
What are the next steps?
The VALUE US Study is still in the early stage of development. We want to make sure that this study focuses on the things that are important to CYP with complex care needs and their families. To do this, we are hoping you can tell us:
What things are important to you during emergency department visits and overnight hospital admissions?
What outcomes are important to you? These are the things that will let us know if the project has worked or not. For example, measuring your quality of life or wellbeing.
How we should carry out the research? For example, how should we inform families about the study and how should we ask them to take part?
How should we keep families informed of the study progress?
We plan to carry out some online workshops with CYP and parent/carers. We will ask about your experiences and your opinions on what are the most important things for this project to focus on. If you prefer, we will also carry out one-to-one discussions at a time convenient to you. Please get in touch (email, phone or text) if you are interested in advising on this study, by using the details below.
Emma Popejoy
Tel: 07812 268 686
