Social Navigation for Adolescents in ED

Social determinants of health affect patients throughout the life course. They may be particularly relevant for pediatric emergency department (ED) patients. Computerized screening for social and behavioral determinants of health has been deemed effective and acceptable. This pilot study will characterize the cumulative burden of health related social problems experienced by patients and families in a pediatric ED. It will specifically examine those patients with a subset of 9 high-risk chief complaints, patients with obesity, patients with poor asthma control, and patients with a high number of non-urgent visits, who may be at particularly high risk for health related social problems. Our analysis will compare these subsets of patients with the general ED population, hypothesizing that these groups will have a higher number of health related social problems than the general ED population. Parent and adolescent participants will be approached during ED visits and administered a computerized screening tool. For patients aged 0-13, a survey administered to parents will test for thirteen distinct health related social problems. Two surveys will be administered to adolescent-parent dyads. The adolescent survey will test for thirteen health related social problems, seven of which overlap with those on the parent survey. The average total number of health related social problems in patient groups hypothesized to be at high risk will be compared to the average total number of HRSPs in the general ED population. For adolescent patients, an intervention group will receive social navigation consisting of rapid referrals to community resources based on survey responses by a community health liaison. Their ED recidivism, community resource use and number of unmet social needs at 12-month follow up will be compared with that of a control group that receives screening and written resources only.