Pediatrics
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A 2-year-old girl with a past medical history of cutaneous mastocytosis and eczema presented with 1 day of yellow-green, nonbloody vomiting, bradycardia, and listlessness. She was evaluated by her pediatrician and sent to the emergency department because of concern for dehydration. In the emergency department, she improved with fluid rehydration but still had decreased energy and bradycardia. ⋯ An abdominal ultrasound was obtained to evaluate for intussusception. The ultrasound revealed a blind-ending tubular structure in the right-lower quadrant with adjacent free fluid, which was concerning for appendicitis. The patient was admitted to the surgical service for further management and was taken to the operating room, where a definitive diagnosis was made.
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Significant variation in management of febrile infants exists both nationally and within our institution. Risk stratification can be used to identify low-risk infants who can be managed as outpatients without lumbar puncture (LP) or antibiotics. Our objective was to reduce invasive interventions for febrile infants aged 29 to 60 days at low risk for serious bacterial infection (SBI) through implementation of a clinical pathway supported by quality improvement (QI). ⋯ Implementation of a clinical pathway by using QI methods resulted in sustained reduction in invasive interventions for low-risk febrile infants without missed SBIs. Clinical pathways and QI can be key strategies in the delivery of evidence-based care for febrile infants.