CareBEST

Participating Sites and Principal Investigators

Quebec
CHU Sainte-Justine (Montreal)
Dr. Olivier Drouin

British Columbia
BC Children’s Hospital (Vancouver)
Dr. Matthew Carwana

Ontario
McMaster Children’s Hospital (Hamilton)
Dr. Gita Wahi

CareBEST Logo

What Do We Want To Know?

Low-value care is defined as the use of a health service, such as treatments and investigations, for which the harms or costs outweigh the benefits. We are studying the use of 6 low-value healthcare services in children aged 1 to 12 months hospitalized with bronchiolitis to better understand the use of low-value care, and how this differs between different patients, doctors, and hospitals.

The treatments of interest are:

  1. respiratory virus testing

  2. chest x-rays

  3. continuous pulse oximetry

  4. short-acting beta-agonists

  5. systemic corticosteroids

  6. antibiotics

Our questions are:

  1. How frequently used are the 6-low value care services?

  2. How much variability is there in the use of low-value care services between different patients, doctors, and hospitals?

  3. How do family characteristics (like race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, language) contribute to differences and disparities in bronchiolitis care?

How Are We Doing It?

We are an observational study. This means we are collecting data from our participants medical charts! Observational studies do not involve any tests or treatments done for research.

There are also 2 participant questionnaires: 1) one at recruitment that will help us know more about your family’s characteristics and 2) one at follow-up, 30-days after discharge, that will help us know if you needed to visit the hospital again.

When Will I Be Needed?

You will be needed two times! Once while you are at the hospital (baseline) so we can complete the study questionnaire. Then depending on your preference, we can call or email you 30-days after your child is discharged to complete the follow-up questionnaire. Both questionnaires should not take longer than 5-10 minutes.

How Is The Project Going?

Below are current CareBEST sites and more will be joining soon:

  • CHU Saint Justine – Montreal, Quebec (currently recruiting)

  • BC Children’s – Vancouver, British Columbia (recruiting soon)

  • McMaster Children’s Hospital – Hamilton, Ontario (recruiting soon)

 Who Can Participate?

If your child is 1 to 12 months old and is admitted to hospital for bronchiolitis!

Image of science/lab equipment