Improving Follow-Up of Tests Pending at Discharge.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Follow-up on results of inpatient tests pending at discharge (TPAD) must occur to ensure patient safety and high-quality care continue after discharge. We identified a need to improve follow-up of TPAD and began a quality improvement initiative with an aim of reducing the rate of missed follow-up of TPAD to ≤20% within 12 months. METHODS: The team used the Plan-Do-Study-Act method of quality improvement and implemented a process using reminder messages in the electronic health record. We collected data via retrospective chart review for the 6 months before the intervention and monthly thereafter. The primary outcome measure was the percentage of patients with missed follow-up of TPAD, defined as no documented follow-up within 72 hours of a result being available. The use of a reminder message was monitored as a process measure. RESULTS: We reviewed charts of 764 discharged patients, and 216 (28%) were noted to have TPAD. At baseline, the average percentage of patients with missed follow-up was 80%. The use of reminder messages was quickly adopted. The average percentage of patients with missed follow-up of TPAD after beginning the quality improvement interventions was 35%. CONCLUSIONS: We had significant improvement in follow-up after our interventions. Additional work is needed to ensure continued and sustained improvement, focused on reducing variability in performance between providers and investing in technology to allow for automation of the follow-up process.

Pediatric Cellulitis: A Red-Hot Concern.

Cellulitis and other skin and soft tissue infections are a common reason for children to seek care, both in the primary care setting and the emergency department. Cellulitis is a common skin and soft-tissue infection that is usually caused by streptococci bacteria or, less commonly, Staphylococcus aureus. Most children recover quickly from cellulitis, but a small subset will require hospitalization. Practitioners need to be skilled in the diagnosis and treatment of cellulitis, including recognition of the need for inpatient treatment. However, diagnosis of cellulitis, and exclusion of complicated or other more serious infections, can be challenging. Management of these infections has also been highly variable, resulting in some difficulty identifying the ideal treatment regimen. The goal is to use the antibiotic with the narrowest spectrum for the shortest duration necessary to provide clinical improvement. Research to identify the best treatment for pediatric cellulitis will be important moving forward. [Pediatr Ann. 2017;46(7):e265-e269.].