Articles: emergency-services.
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Pediatric emergency care · Nov 2024
Decreasing Invasive Urinary Tract Infection Screening in a Pediatric Emergency Department to Improve Quality of Care.
Obtaining urine samples in younger children undergoing urinary tract infection (UTI) screening can be challenging in busy emergency departments (EDs), and sterile techniques, like catheterization, are invasive, traumatizing, and time consuming to complete. Noninvasive techniques have been shown to reduce catheterization rates but are variably implemented. Our aim was to implement a standardized urine bag UTI screening approach in febrile children aged 6 to 24 months to decrease the number of unnecessary catheterizations by 50% without impacting ED length of stay (LOS) or return visits (RVs). ⋯ A urine bag screening pathway was successfully implemented to decrease unnecessary, invasive catheterizations for UTI screening in children with only a slight increase in ED LOS. In addition to the urine bag pathway, an ED nursing champion, strategic alignment, and broad provider engagement were all instrumental in the initiative's success.
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Pediatric emergency care · Nov 2024
Exploring the Impact of Race on Addressing Intimate Partner Violence in the Emergency Department.
Research highlights racial disparities among those experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV), yet little is known about disparities in addressing IPV in the emergency department (ED). This study was designed to examine variability in offering IPV universal education to adult caregivers across patient race within an urban pediatric ED and to explore provider attitudes regarding the role of race in this process. ⋯ Our study showed that racial disparities exist in both offering IPV universal education and documentation deferral in our pediatric ED. Combined analysis of our quantitative and qualitative data shows the importance of identifying biases that cause health disparities and increasing diversity among healthcare providers. The results of this study can be used to inform new methodologies for healthcare providers to address their personal biases and ensure that all caregivers visiting the ED are offered IPV support resources.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Feasibility of adolescent contraceptive care in the pediatric emergency department: A pilot randomized controlled trial.
This study assessed feasibility constructs of adolescent contraceptive care in the pediatric emergency department (PED), including contraception initiation. ⋯ We are among the first to report on PED-based adolescent contraception initiation to prevent unintended pregnancy. Adolescents and clinicians reported that contraceptive care was feasible. Initiation was common and medications were largely appropriate and tolerated. Future efforts should explore integrating contraceptive care into routine PED care.