Using Digital Dashboards to Characterise Demographics and Service Utilisation of Multi-Tiered Outpatient Paediatric Feeding Clinics: Differentiated Care for Subtypes of Paediatric Feeding Disorder

Background

Digital dashboards are interactive, visual displays that provide real-time identification of clinical and service performance trends. Few studies have reported their use in characterising feeding clinic care for children with paediatric feeding disorder (PFD). This study used data from a digital dashboard at a children's hospital to compare populations and service utilisation across four outpatient feeding clinics: speech pathology-only (SP-only), dietetics and speech pathology (DT-SP), occupational therapy and speech pathology (OT-SP), and dietetics, occupational therapy, and speech pathology (DT-OT-SP).

Methods

This single-centre, retrospective study used 2023 digital dashboard data to compare the demographics (i.e., cultural background) and service utilisation (e.g., appointment scheduling) of the four clinics.

Results

Data relating to 551 children were analysed. Significant differences were found between clinics for demographics, wait times, scheduling, delivery methods, attendance, and outcomes. Children referred for suspected oropharyngeal dysphagia and infants were prioritised for earlier management, whereas those requiring OT-SP intervention waited longest. Infants received the most intensive hospital-based management, whereas children with oropharyngeal dysphagia did not require long-term hospital-based follow-up. Children in DT-OT-SP were more likely to receive telehealth appointments, whilst those in OT-SP had the lowest telehealth utilisation. Children from culturally and linguistically diverse communities were more likely to attend OT-SP or DT-OT-SP. OT-SP had a higher likelihood of missed appointments and was less likely to need a review waiting list.

Conclusion

Findings support multi-tiered multidisciplinary feeding clinics in addressing the clinical and service needs associated with different types of PFD. Results inform future development needs of digital dashboards.