Prescription Antipyretics to Decrease Unscheduled Return Visits In A Pediatric Emergency Department
University of Texas at Austin
Summary
The study aims to evaluate whether unscheduled return visits within one week for similar complaints are impacted by ensuring parents leave the emergency department (ED) with a prescription for appropriately dosed acetaminophen and ibuprofen for their child.
Description
Unscheduled return visits (URV) to the Emergency Department (ED) are a burden on both the healthcare system and patients. Published literature has attempted to categorize the rate of URV and type of complaints that lead to URVs. Rate of URV is variable, but as high as 22% for children with infectious illnesses and parents often return to the ED due to unresolved fever in a child. Unresolved fever may be due to continued progressive worsening of illness or inability to provide the appropriate amount of anti-pyretic (anti fever) medicine to the child, as pediatric medication dosing is not only a…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 0–3 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * Children 6 to \< 36 months of age being discharged home from Dell Children's Medical Center emergency department who are evaluated for fever * Caregiver fluent in English or Spanish Exclusion Criteria: * Previous enrollment in this study * Patient admitted to hospital * Parental request for a prescription for acetaminophen and/or ibuprofen * Trauma patient * Orthopedic complaint * Other painful indication for acetaminophen or ibuprofen * Acetaminophen or ibuprofen prescribed for anything other than fever * Allergy or another contraindication to acetaminophen or ibuprof…
Interventions
- OtherPrescription for weight-based dosing of antipyretic
The intervention group (n=220) will receive prescription with weight-based dosing for acetaminophen (also prescribed and known as Tylenol) and ibuprofen (also prescribed and known as Motrin).
- OtherStandard discharge instructions
The control group (n=220) will also receive standardized printed discharge instructions but no prescription. The discharge instructions include the appropriate dose of acetaminophen (also known as Tylenol) and ibuprofen (also known as Motrin).
Location
- Dell Children's Medical CenterAustin, Texas