Decreasing Invasive Urinary Tract Infection Screening in a Pediatric Emergency Department to Improve Quality of Care.

OBJECTIVES: 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). METHODS: After forming an interprofessional study team and engaging key stakeholders, a multipronged intervention strategy was developed using the Model for Improvement. A urine bag screening pathway was created and implemented using Plan, Do, Study Act (PDSA) cycles for children aged 6 to 24 months being evaluated for UTIs. A urine bag sample with point-of-care (POC) urinalysis (UA) was integrated as a screening approach. The outcome measure was the rate of ED urine catheterizations, and balancing measures included ED LOS and RVs. Statistical process control methods were used for analysis. RESULTS: During the 3-year study period from January 2019 to June 2022, the ED catheterization rate successfully decreased from a baseline of 73.3% to 37.7% and was sustained for approximately 2 years. Unnecessary urine cultures requiring microbiology processing decreased from 79.8% to 40.7%. The ED LOS initially decreased; however, it increased by 17 minutes during the last 8 months of the study. There was no change in RVs. CONCLUSION: 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.

Echinococcal Cyst Rupture in a 3-Year-Old Boy With a Minor Abdominal Trauma Identified by a Point-of-Care Ultrasound E-Fast Examination: A Case Report and Literature Review.

ABSTRACT: Point-of-care ultrasound is now widely used in adult and pediatric emergency departments as part of the rapid evaluation and treatment of patients in urgent care settings. It has been shown to be a powerful tool to aid in decision making in both trauma and acute medical situations. We describe a case of a 3-year-old boy who presented with abdominal pain and fever after a minor abdominal trauma, highlighting the use of point-of-care ultrasound to arrive at the diagnosis of a ruptured echinococcal cyst.

Pediatric cannabis intoxication trends in the pre and post-legalization era.

INTRODUCTION: On April 13, 2017, a bill to legalize cannabis was introduced to the Canadian Parliament and presented to the public. On October 17, 2018, Canada legalized recreational cannabis use. We assessed intoxication severity, reflected by ICU admission rates, risk factors and other characteristics in children who presented to the emergency department (ED) with cannabis intoxication, before and after legalization. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study of children 0-18 years who presented to a pediatric ED between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2019 with cannabis intoxication. The pre-legalization period was defined from January 1, 2008 to April 12, 2017 and the peri-post legalization period from April 13, 2017 to December 31, 2019. RESULTS: We identified 298 patients; 232 (77.8%) presented in the pre legalization period and 66 (22.1%) in the peri-post legalization period; median age: 15.9 years (range: 11 months-17.99 years). A higher proportion of children were admitted to the ICU in the peri-post legalization period (13.6% vs. 4.7%, respectively; p = .02). While the median monthly number of cannabis-related presentations did not differ between the time periods (2.1 [IQR:1.9-2.5] in the pre legalization period vs. 1.7 [IQR:1.0-3.0] in the peri-post legalization period; p = .69), the clinical severity did. The proportions of children with respiratory involvement (65.9% vs. 50.9%; p = .05) and altered mental status (28.8% vs. 14.2%; p < .01) were higher in the peri-post legalization period. The peri-post legalization period was characterized by more children younger than 12 years (12.1% vs. 3.0%; p = .04), unintentional exposures (14.4% vs, 2.8%; p = .002) and edibles ingestion (19.7% vs. 7.8%; p = .01). Edible ingestion was an independent predictor of ICU admission (adjusted OR: 4.1, 95%CI: 1.2-13.7, p = .02). CONCLUSIONS: The recreational cannabis legalization in Canada is associated with increased rates of severe intoxications in children. Edible ingestion is a strong predictor of ICU admission in the pediatric population.

The effect of a coaching program on asthma control and health care utilization in children with asthma.

ABSRACTObjective: Poor adherence to asthma therapy is a major problem in the management of asthma. We aimed to assess if a designed coaching program in children with asthma, coming from low socioeconomic background, will reduce respiratory morbidity and health care utilization.Methods: A prospective interventional pilot study enrolling children aged 3-18 years, admitted to Soroka University Medical Center (SUMC) between October 2015 and May 2016 due to asthma exacerbation. The intervention group was part of a coaching program, which was conducted by medical and paramedical personnel and included a diagnostic and personal educational office visit and a house visit by a nurse educator for asthma. The control group comprised of demographically matched children with asthma, who were admitted to the SUMC, but did not go through any intervention. Medications purchase and health care utilization were extracted from the participants' HMO databases, during 1-year of follow-up.Results: 41 children were enrolled to the intervention group, with 63 children as a control group. No differences were found in asthma-related drugs purchase, number of clinic visits, ER admissions and hospitalizations during the follow-up year, although the intervention group showed a trend towards having a shorter length of stay (2.3 vs. 4.5 days, Cohen's D = 0.44, p = 0.06). The intervention group demonstrated subjective improvement in asthma control, as reflected in Asthma Control Test questionnaires.Conclusions: In this pilot study of coaching program for children with asthma coming from low income families, no decrease in health care utilization was shown. Larger and longer intervention programs are needed.