Management of Bronchiolitis in the Emergency Department
No significant changes were seen in management of bronchiolitis after guidelines recommended against medications and x-rays for infants and toddlers.
Bronchiolitis is one of the most common conditions for which infants and toddlers are seen in the hospital emergency department. In 2006, the American Academy of Pediatrics published evidence-based bronchiolitis guidelines. The guidelines recommend against the use of bronchodilators, corticosteroids, antibiotics, and diagnostic testing such as chest X-rays; and instead emphasize supportive care with oxygen and supplemental hydration, if necessary.
To determine if the guidelines had any effect on resource utilization, these researchers analyzed data from before and after the guidelines were published using the 2001–2009 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Survey.
The patients were more often male (59%) and under one year of age (79%). Before and after the guidelines, bronchodilators were used in 54 percent of patient visits. Systemic steroids were used in 20 percent of visits and antibiotics were given in 33 percent. Use of chest X-rays, however, did decrease after the guidelines were issued (65% before versus 49% after). Patients seen in child-focused emergency departments were less likely to receive antibiotics but more likely to receive bronchodilators.
The findings show that practice patterns are not consistent with recommended guidelines and highlight how difficult it can be to bring about change in clinical practice.
Moving the Discourse on Quality in Pediatrics
- 1. Well-Child Care Clinical Practice Redesign for Young Children
- 2. Reducing Quality of Care Disparities in Childhood Asthma
- 3. National Quality Measures for Child Mental Health Care
- 4. Do Parent Perceptions Predict Continuity of Publicly Funded Care for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder?
- 5. Systematic Update of Computerized Physician Order Entry Order Sets to Improve Quality of Care
- 6. Methods of Mortality Risk Adjustment in the NICU
- 7. Accuracy of Hospital Administrative Data in Reporting Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections in Newborns
- 8. Variation in Surgical Outcomes for Adolescents and Young Adults with Inflammatory Bowel Disease
- 9. The Factors Associated with High-Quality Communication for Critically Ill Children
- 10. Rapid Adoption of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG for Acute Gastroenteritis
- 11. Management of Bronchiolitis in the Emergency Department
- 12. Assessing Quality Improvement in Health Care