Which low urgent triaged febrile children are suitable for a fast track? An observational European study

BACKGROUND

The number of paediatric patients visiting the ED with non-urgent problems is increasing, leading to poor patient flow and ED crowding. Fast track aims to improve the efficiency of evaluation and discharge of low acuity patients. We aimed to identify which febrile children are suitable for a fast track based on presenting symptoms and management.

METHODS

This study is part of the Management and Outcome of Fever in children in Europe study, which is an observational study including routine data of febrile children <18 years attending 12 European EDs. We included febrile, low urgent children (those assigned a triage acuity of either 'standard' or 'non-urgent' using the Manchester Triage System) and defined children as suitable for fast track when they have minimal resource use and are discharged home. Presenting symptoms consisted of neurological (n=237), respiratory (n=8476), gastrointestinal (n=1953) and others (n=3473, reference group). Multivariable logistic regression analyses regarding presenting symptoms and management (laboratory blood testing, imaging and admission) were performed with adjustment for covariates: patient characteristics, referral status, previous medical care, previous antibiotic use, visiting hours and ED setting.

RESULTS

We included 14 139 children with a median age of 2.7 years (IQR 1.3-5.2). The majority had respiratory symptoms (60%), viral infections (50%) and consisted of self-referrals (69%). The neurological group received imaging more often (adjusted OR (aOR) 1.8, 95% CI 1.1 to 2.9) and were admitted more frequently (aOR 1.9, 95% CI 1.4 to 2.7). The respiratory group had fewer laboratory blood tests performed (aOR 0.6, 95% CI 0.5 to 0.7), were less frequently admitted (aOR 0.6, 95% CI 0.5 to 0.7), but received imaging more often (aOR 1.8, 95% CI 1.6 to 2.0). Lastly, the gastrointestinal group had more laboratory blood tests performed (aOR 1.2. 95% CI 1.1 to 1.4) and were admitted more frequently (aOR 1.4, 95% CI 1.2 to 1.6).

CONCLUSION

We determined that febrile children triaged as low urgent with respiratory symptoms were most suitable for a fast track. This study provides evidence for which children could be triaged to a fast track, potentially improving overall patient flow at the ED.

2023 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations: Summary From the Basic Life Support; Advanced Life Support; Pediatric Life Support; Neonatal Life Support; Education, Implementation, and Teams; and First Aid Task Forces

The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation engages in a continuous review of new, peer-reviewed, published cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid science. Draft Consensus on Science With Treatment Recommendations are posted online throughout the year, and this annual summary provides more concise versions of the final Consensus on Science With Treatment Recommendations from all task forces for the year. Topics addressed by systematic reviews this year include resuscitation of cardiac arrest from drowning, extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation for adults and children, calcium during cardiac arrest, double sequential defibrillation, neuroprognostication after cardiac arrest for adults and children, maintaining normal temperature after preterm birth, heart rate monitoring methods for diagnostics in neonates, detection of exhaled carbon dioxide in neonates, family presence during resuscitation of adults, and a stepwise approach to resuscitation skills training. Members from 6 International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation task forces have assessed, discussed, and debated the quality of the evidence, using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria, and their statements include consensus treatment recommendations. Insights into the deliberations of the task forces are provided in the Justification and Evidence-to-Decision Framework Highlights sections. In addition, the task forces list priority knowledge gaps for further research. Additional topics are addressed with scoping reviews and evidence updates.

2023 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations: Summary From the Basic Life Support; Advanced Life Support; Pediatric Life Support; Neonatal Life Support; Education, Implementation, and Teams; and First Aid Task Forces

The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation engages in a continuous review of new, peer-reviewed, published cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid science. Draft Consensus on Science With Treatment Recommendations are posted online throughout the year, and this annual summary provides more concise versions of the final Consensus on Science With Treatment Recommendations from all task forces for the year. Topics addressed by systematic reviews this year include resuscitation of cardiac arrest from drowning, extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation for adults and children, calcium during cardiac arrest, double sequential defibrillation, neuroprognostication after cardiac arrest for adults and children, maintaining normal temperature after preterm birth, heart rate monitoring methods for diagnostics in neonates, detection of exhaled carbon dioxide in neonates, family presence during resuscitation of adults, and a stepwise approach to resuscitation skills training. Members from 6 International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation task forces have assessed, discussed, and debated the quality of the evidence, using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria, and their statements include consensus treatment recommendations. Insights into the deliberations of the task forces are provided in the Justification and Evidence-to-Decision Framework Highlights sections. In addition, the task forces list priority knowledge gaps for further research. Additional topics are addressed with scoping reviews and evidence updates.

Comparison of paediatric basic life support guidelines endorsed by member councils of Resuscitation Council of Asia

Background

Paediatric cardiac arrest outcomes, especially for infants, remain poor. Due to different training, resource differences, and historical reasons, paediatric cardiac arrest algorithms for various Asia countries vary. While there has been a common basic life support algorithm for adults by the Resuscitation Council of Asia (RCA), there is no common RCA algorithm for paediatric life support.We aimed to review published paediatric life support guidelines from different Asian resuscitation councils.

Methods

Pubmed and Google Scholar search were performed for published paediatric basic and advanced life support guidelines from January 2015 to June 2023. Paediatric representatives from the Resuscitation Council of Asia were sought and contacted to provide input from September 2022 till June 2023.

Results

While most of the components of published paediatric life support algorithms of Asian countries are similar, there are notable variations in terms of age criteria for recommended use of adult basic life support algorithms in the paediatric population less than 18 years old, recommended paediatric chest compression depth targets, ventilation rates post-advanced airway intra-arrest, and first defibrillation dose for shockable rhythms in paediatric cardiac arrest.

Conclusion

This was an overview and mapping of published Asian paediatric resuscitation algorithms. It highlights similarities across paediatric life support guidelines in Asian countries. There were some differences in components of paediatric life support which highlight important knowledge gaps in paediatric resuscitation science. The minor differences in the paediatric life support guidelines endorsed by the member councils may provide a framework for prioritising resuscitation research and highlight knowledge gaps in paediatric resuscitation.

Emergency medical services utilisation among febrile children attending emergency departments across Europe: an observational multicentre study

Children constitute 6-10% of all patients attending the emergency department (ED) by emergency medical services (EMS). However, discordant EMS use in children occurs in 37-61% with fever as an important risk factor. We aimed to describe EMS utilisation among febrile children attending European EDs. This study is part of an observational multicentre study assessing management and outcome in febrile children up to 18 years (MOFICHE) attending twelve EDs in eight European countries. Discordant EMS use was defined as the absence of markers of urgency including intermediate/high triage urgency, advanced diagnostics, treatment, and admission in children transferred by EMS. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed for the association between (1) EMS use and markers of urgency, and (2) patient characteristics and discordant EMS use after adjusting all analyses for the covariates age, gender, visiting hours, presenting symptoms, and ED setting. A total of 5464 (15%, range 0.1-42%) children attended the ED by EMS. Markers of urgency were more frequently present in the EMS group compared with the non-EMS group. Discordant EMS use occurred in 1601 children (29%, range 1-59%). Age and gender were not associated with discordant EMS use, whereas neurological symptoms were associated with less discordant EMS use (aOR 0.2, 95%CI 0.1-0.2), and attendance out of office hours was associated with more discordant EMS use (aOR 1.6, 95%CI 1.4-1.9). Settings with higher percentage of self-referrals to the ED had more discordant EMS use (p < 0.05).  Conclusion: There is large practice variation in EMS use in febrile children attending European EDs. Markers of urgency were more frequently present in children in the EMS group. However, discordant EMS use occurred in 29%. Further research is needed on non-medical factors influencing discordant EMS use in febrile children across Europe, so that pre-emptive strategies can be implemented. What is Known: •Children constitute around 6-10% of all patients attending the emergency department by emergency medical services. •Discordant EMS use occurs in 37-61% of all children, with fever as most common presenting symptom for discordant EMS use in children. What is New: •There is large practice variation in EMS use among febrile children across Europe with discordance EMS use occurring in 29% (range 1-59%), which was associated with attendance during out of office hours and with settings with higher percentage of self-referrals to the ED. •Future research is needed focusing on non-medical factors (socioeconomic status, parental preferences and past experience, healthcare systems, referral pathways, out of hours services provision) that influence discordant EMS use in febrile children across Europe.

Are children with prolonged fever at a higher risk for serious illness? A prospective observational study

OBJECTIVES

To describe the characteristics and clinical outcomes of children with fever ≥5 days presenting to emergency departments (EDs).

DESIGN

Prospective observational study.

SETTING

12 European EDs.

PATIENTS

Consecutive febrile children <18 years between January 2017 and April 2018.

INTERVENTIONS

Children with fever ≥5 days and their risks for serious bacterial infection (SBI) were compared with children with fever <5 days, including diagnostic accuracy of non-specific symptoms, warning signs and C-reactive protein (CRP; mg/L).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

SBI and other non-infectious serious illness.

RESULTS

3778/35 705 (10.6%) of febrile children had fever ≥5 days. Incidence of SBI in children with fever ≥5 days was higher than in those with fever <5 days (8.4% vs 5.7%). Triage urgency, life-saving interventions and intensive care admissions were similar for fever ≥5 days and <5 days. Several warning signs had good rule in value for SBI with specificities >0.90, but were observed infrequently (range: 0.4%-17%). Absence of warning signs was not sufficiently reliable to rule out SBI (sensitivity 0.92 (95% CI 0.87-0.95), negative likelihood ratio (LR) 0.34 (0.22-0.54)). CRP <20 mg/L was useful for ruling out SBI (negative LR 0.16 (0.11-0.24)). There were 66 cases (1.7%) of non-infectious serious illnesses, including 21 cases of Kawasaki disease (0.6%), 28 inflammatory conditions (0.7%) and 4 malignancies.

CONCLUSION

Children with prolonged fever have a higher risk of SBI, warranting a careful clinical assessment and diagnostic workup. Warning signs of SBI occurred infrequently but, if present, increased the likelihood of SBI. Although rare, clinicians should consider important non-infectious causes of prolonged fever.

European study confirms the combination of fever and petechial rash as an important warning sign for childhood sepsis and meningitis

AIM

This study investigated febrile children with petechial rashes who presented to European emergency departments (EDs) and investigated the role that mechanical causes played in diagnoses.

METHODS

Consecutive patients with fever presenting to EDs in 11 European emergency departments in 2017-2018 were enrolled. The cause and focus of infection were identified and a detailed analysis was performed on children with petechial rashes. The results are presented as odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).

RESULTS

We found that 453/34010 (1.3%) febrile children had petechial rashes. The focus of the infection included sepsis (10/453, 2.2%) and meningitis (14/453, 3.1%). Children with a petechial rash were more likely than other febrile children to have sepsis or meningitis (OR 8.5, 95% CI 5.3-13.1) and bacterial infections (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.0-1.8) as well as need for immediate life-saving interventions (OR 6.6, 95% CI 4.4-9.5) and intensive care unit admissions (OR 6.5, 95% CI 3.0-12.5).

CONCLUSION

The combination of fever and petechial rash is still an important warning sign for childhood sepsis and meningitis. Ruling out coughing and/or vomiting was insufficient to safely identify low-risk patients.

2022 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations: Summary From the Basic Life Support; Advanced Life Support; Pediatric Life Support; Neonatal Life Support; Education, Implementation, and Teams; and First Aid Task Forces

This is the sixth annual summary of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations. This summary addresses the most recently published resuscitation evidence reviewed by International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation Task Force science experts. Topics covered by systematic reviews include cardiopulmonary resuscitation during transport; approach to resuscitation after drowning; passive ventilation; minimizing pauses during cardiopulmonary resuscitation; temperature management after cardiac arrest; use of diagnostic point-of-care ultrasound during cardiac arrest; use of vasopressin and corticosteroids during cardiac arrest; coronary angiography after cardiac arrest; public-access defibrillation devices for children; pediatric early warning systems; maintaining normal temperature immediately after birth; suctioning of amniotic fluid at birth; tactile stimulation for resuscitation immediately after birth; use of continuous positive airway pressure for respiratory distress at term birth; respiratory and heart rate monitoring in the delivery room; supraglottic airway use in neonates; prearrest prediction of in-hospital cardiac arrest mortality; basic life support training for likely rescuers of high-risk populations; effect of resuscitation team training; blended learning for life support training; training and recertification for resuscitation instructors; and recovery position for maintenance of breathing and prevention of cardiac arrest. Members from 6 task forces have assessed, discussed, and debated the quality of the evidence using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria and generated consensus treatment recommendations. Insights into the deliberations of the task forces are provided in the Justification and Evidence-to-Decision Framework Highlights sections, and priority knowledge gaps for future research are listed.

Influence of epidemics and pandemics on paediatric ED use: a systematic review

OBJECTIVE

To assess the impact of epidemics and pandemics on the utilisation of paediatric emergency care services to provide health policy advice.

SETTING

Systematic review.

DESIGN

Searches were conducted of Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library for studies that reported on changes in paediatric emergency care utilisation during epidemics (as defined by the WHO).

PATIENTS

Children under 18 years.

INTERVENTIONS

National Institutes of Health quality assessment tool for observational cohort and cross-sectional studies was used.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Changes in paediatric emergency care utilisation.

RESULTS

131 articles were included within this review, 80% of which assessed the impact of COVID-19. Studies analysing COVID-19, SARS, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and Ebola found a reduction in paediatric emergency department (PED) visits, whereas studies reporting on H1N1, chikungunya virus and Escherichia coli outbreaks found an increase in PED visits. For COVID-19, there was a reduction of 63.86% (95% CI 60.40% to 67.31%) with a range of -16.5% to -89.4%. Synthesis of results suggests that the fear of the epidemic disease, from either contracting it or its potential adverse clinical outcomes, resulted in reductions and increases in PED utilisation, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

The scale and direction of effect of PED use depend on both the epidemic disease, the public health measures enforced and how these influence decision-making. Policy makers must be aware how fear of virus among the general public may influence their response to public health advice. There is large inequity in reporting of epidemic impact on PED use which needs to be addressed.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

CRD42021242808.

Respective roles of non-pharmaceutical interventions in bronchiolitis outbreaks: an interrupted time-series analysis based on a multinational surveillance system

BACKGROUND

Bronchiolitis is a major source of morbimortality among young children worldwide. Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) implemented to reduce the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 may have had an important impact on bronchiolitis outbreaks, as well as major societal consequences. Discriminating between their respective impacts would help define optimal public health strategies against bronchiolitis. We aimed to assess the respective impact of each NPI on bronchiolitis outbreaks in 14 European countries.

METHODS

We conducted a quasi-experimental interrupted time-series analysis based on a multicentre international study. All children diagnosed with bronchiolitis presenting to the paediatric emergency department of one of 27 centres from January 2018 to March 2021 were included. We assessed the association between each NPI and change in the bronchiolitis trend over time by seasonally adjusted multivariable quasi-Poisson regression modelling.

RESULTS

In total, 42 916 children were included. We observed an overall cumulative 78% (95% CI -100- -54%; p<0.0001) reduction in bronchiolitis cases following NPI implementation. The decrease varied between countries from -97% (95% CI -100- -47%; p=0.0005) to -36% (95% CI -79-7%; p=0.105). Full lockdown (incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0.21 (95% CI 0.14-0.30); p<0.001), secondary school closure (IRR 0.33 (95% CI 0.20-0.52); p<0.0001), wearing a mask indoors (IRR 0.49 (95% CI 0.25-0.94); p=0.034) and teleworking (IRR 0.55 (95% CI 0.31-0.97); p=0.038) were independently associated with reducing bronchiolitis.

CONCLUSIONS

Several NPIs were associated with a reduction of bronchiolitis outbreaks, including full lockdown, school closure, teleworking and facial masking. Some of these public health interventions may be considered to further reduce the global burden of bronchiolitis.

2022 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations: Summary From the Basic Life Support; Advanced Life Support; Pediatric Life Support; Neonatal Life Support; Education, Implementation, and Teams; and First Aid Task Forces

This is the sixth annual summary of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations. This summary addresses the most recently published resuscitation evidence reviewed by International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation Task Force science experts. Topics covered by systematic reviews include cardiopulmonary resuscitation during transport; approach to resuscitation after drowning; passive ventilation; minimizing pauses during cardiopulmonary resuscitation; temperature management after cardiac arrest; use of diagnostic point-of-care ultrasound during cardiac arrest; use of vasopressin and corticosteroids during cardiac arrest; coronary angiography after cardiac arrest; public-access defibrillation devices for children; pediatric early warning systems; maintaining normal temperature immediately after birth; suctioning of amniotic fluid at birth; tactile stimulation for resuscitation immediately after birth; use of continuous positive airway pressure for respiratory distress at term birth; respiratory and heart rate monitoring in the delivery room; supraglottic airway use in neonates; prearrest prediction of in-hospital cardiac arrest mortality; basic life support training for likely rescuers of high-risk populations; effect of resuscitation team training; blended learning for life support training; training and recertification for resuscitation instructors; and recovery position for maintenance of breathing and prevention of cardiac arrest. Members from 6 task forces have assessed, discussed, and debated the quality of the evidence using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria and generated consensus treatment recommendations. Insights into the deliberations of the task forces are provided in the Justification and Evidence-to-Decision Framework Highlights sections, and priority knowledge gaps for future research are listed.

2022 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations: Summary From the Basic Life Support; Advanced Life Support; Pediatric Life Support; Neonatal Life Support; Education, Implementation, and Teams; and First Aid Task Forces

This is the sixth annual summary of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations. This summary addresses the most recently published resuscitation evidence reviewed by International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation Task Force science experts. Topics covered by systematic reviews include cardiopulmonary resuscitation during transport; approach to resuscitation after drowning; passive ventilation; minimising pauses during cardiopulmonary resuscitation; temperature management after cardiac arrest; use of diagnostic point-of-care ultrasound during cardiac arrest; use of vasopressin and corticosteroids during cardiac arrest; coronary angiography after cardiac arrest; public-access defibrillation devices for children; pediatric early warning systems; maintaining normal temperature immediately after birth; suctioning of amniotic fluid at birth; tactile stimulation for resuscitation immediately after birth; use of continuous positive airway pressure for respiratory distress at term birth; respiratory and heart rate monitoring in the delivery room; supraglottic airway use in neonates; prearrest prediction of in-hospital cardiac arrest mortality; basic life support training for likely rescuers of high-risk populations; effect of resuscitation team training; blended learning for life support training; training and recertification for resuscitation instructors; and recovery position for maintenance of breathing and prevention of cardiac arrest. Members from 6 task forces have assessed, discussed, and debated the quality of the evidence using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria and generated consensus treatment recommendations. Insights into the deliberations of the task forces are provided in the Justification and Evidence-to-Decision Framework Highlights sections, and priority knowledge gaps for future research are listed.

Sex differences in febrile children with respiratory symptoms attending European emergency departments: An observational multicenter study

Objective

To assess sex differences in presentation and management of febrile children with respiratory symptoms attending European Emergency Departments.

Design and setting

An observational study in twelve Emergency Departments in eight European countries.

Patients

Previously healthy children aged 0–<18 years with fever (≥ 38°C) at the Emergency Department or in the consecutive three days before Emergency Department visit and respiratory symptoms were included.

Main outcome measures

The main outcomes were patient characteristics and management defined as diagnostic tests, treatment and admission. Descriptive statistics were used for patient characteristics and management stratified by sex. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed for the association between sex and management with adjustment for age, disease severity and Emergency Department. Additionally, subgroup analyses were performed in children with upper and lower respiratory tract infections and in children below five years.

Results

We included 19,781 febrile children with respiratory symptoms. The majority were boys (54%), aged 1–5 years (58%) and triaged as low urgent (67%). Girls presented less frequently with tachypnea (15% vs 16%, p = 0.002) and increased work of breathing (8% vs 12%, p<0.001) compared with boys. Girls received less inhalation medication than boys (aOR 0.82, 95% CI 0.74–0.90), but received antibiotic treatment more frequently than boys (aOR 1.09, 95% CI 1.02–1.15), which is associated with a higher prevalence of urinary tract infections. Amongst children with a lower respiratory tract infection and children below five years girls received less inhalation medication than boys (aOR 0.77, 95% CI 0.66–0.89; aOR 0.80, 95% CI 0.72–0.90).

Conclusions

Sex differences concerning presentation and management are present in previously healthy febrile children with respiratory symptoms presenting to the Emergency Department. Future research should focus on whether these differences are related to clinicians’ attitudes, differences in clinical symptoms at the time of presentation and disease severity.

Improving triage for children with comorbidity using the ED-PEWS: an observational study

OBJECTIVE

To assess the value of the Emergency Department-Pediatric Early Warning Score (ED-PEWS) for triage of children with comorbidity.

DESIGN

Secondary analysis of a prospective cohort.

SETTING AND PATIENTS

53 829 consecutive ED visits of children <16 years in three European hospitals (Netherlands, UK and Austria) participating in the TrIAGE (Triage Improvements Across General Emergency departments) project in different periods (2012-2015).

INTERVENTION

ED-PEWS, a score consisting of age and six physiological parameters.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

A three-category reference standard as proxy for true patient urgency. We assessed discrimination and calibration of the ED-PEWS for children with comorbidity (complex and non-complex) and without comorbidity. In addition, we evaluated the value of adding the ED-PEWS to the routinely used Manchester Triage System (MTS).

RESULTS

5053 (9%) children had underlying non-complex morbidity and 5537 (10%) had complex comorbidity. The c-statistic for identification of high-urgency patients was 0.86 (95% prediction interval 0.84-0.88) for children without comorbidity, 0.87 (0.82-0.92) for non-complex and 0.86 (0.84-0.88) for complex comorbidity. For high and intermediate urgency, the c-statistic was 0.63 (0.62-0.63), 0.63 (0.61-0.65) and 0.63 (0.55-0.73) respectively. Sensitivity was slightly higher for children with comorbidity (0.73-0.75 vs 0.70) at the cost of a lower specificity (0.86-0.87 vs 0.92). Calibration was largely similar. Adding the ED-PEWS to the MTS for children with comorbidity improved performance, except in the setting with few high-urgency patients.

CONCLUSIONS

The ED-PEWS has a similar performance in children with and without comorbidity. Adding the ED-PEWS to the MTS for children with comorbidity improves triage, except in the setting with few high-urgency patients.

Febrile children with comorbidities at the emergency department - a multicentre observational study

We aimed to describe characteristics and management of children with comorbidities attending European emergency departments (EDs) with fever. MOFICHE (Management and Outcome of Fever in children in Europe) is a prospective multicentre study (12 European EDs, 8 countries). Febrile children with comorbidities were compared to those without in terms of patient characteristics, markers of disease severity, management, and diagnosis. Comorbidity was defined as a chronic underlying condition that is expected to last > 1 year. We performed multivariable logistic regression analysis, displaying adjusted odds ratios (aOR), adjusting for patient characteristics. We included 38,110 patients, of whom 5906 (16%) had comorbidities. Most common comorbidities were pulmonary, neurologic, or prematurity. Patients with comorbidities more often were ill appearing (20 versus 16%, p < 0.001), had an ED-Paediatric Early Warning Score of > 15 (22 versus 12%, p < 0.001), or a C-reactive protein > 60 mg/l (aOR 1.4 (95%CI 1.3-1.6)). They more often required life-saving interventions (aOR 2.7, 95% CI 2.2-3.3), were treated with intravenous antibiotics (aOR 2.3, 95%CI 2.1-2.5), and were admitted to the ward (aOR 2.2, 95%CI 2.1-2.4) or paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) (aOR 5.5, 95% CI 3.8-7.9). They were more often diagnosed with serious bacterial infections (aOR 1.8, 95%CI 1.7-2.0), including sepsis/meningitis (aOR 4.6, 95%CI 3.2-6.7). Children most at risk for sepsis/meningitis were children with malignancy/immunodeficiency (aOR 14.5, 8.5-24.8), while children with psychomotor delay/neurological disease were most at risk for life-saving interventions (aOR 5.3, 4.1-6.9) or PICU admission (aOR 9.7, 6.1-15.5).

CONCLUSIONS

Our data show how children with comorbidities are a population at risk, as they more often are diagnosed with bacterial infections and more often require PICU admission and life-saving interventions.

WHAT IS KNOWN

• While children with comorbidity constitute a large part of ED frequent flyers, they are often excluded from studies.

WHAT IS NEW

• Children with comorbidities in general are more ill upon presentation than children without comorbidities. • Children with comorbidities form a heterogeneous group; specific subgroups have an increased risk for invasive bacterial infections, while others have an increased risk of invasive interventions such as PICU admission, regardless of the cause of the fever.

Update on the Coordinated Efforts of Looking After the Health Care Needs of Children and Young People Fleeing the Conflict Zone of Ukraine Presenting to European Emergency Departments-A Joint Statement of the European Society for Emergency Paediatrics and the European Academy of Paediatrics

This joint statement by the European Society for Emergency Paediatrics and European Academy of Paediatrics aims to highlight recommendations for dealing with refugee children and young people fleeing the Ukrainian war when presenting to emergency departments (EDs) across Europe. Children and young people might present, sometimes unaccompanied, with either ongoing complex health needs or illnesses, mental health issues, and injuries related to the war itself and the flight from it. Obstacles to providing urgent and emergency care include lack of clinical guidelines, language barriers, and lack of insight in previous medical history. Children with complex health needs are at high risk for complications and their continued access to specialist healthcare should be prioritized in resettlements programs. Ukraine has one of the lowest vaccination coverages in the Europe, and outbreaks of cholera, measles, diphtheria, poliomyelitis, and COVID-19 should be anticipated. In Ukraine, rates of multidrug resistant tuberculosis are high, making screening for this important. Urgent and emergency care facilities should also prepare for dealing with children with war-related injuries and mental health issues. Ukrainian refugee children and young people should be included in local educational systems and social activities at the earliest opportunity.

Rapid Viral Testing and Antibiotic Prescription in Febrile Children With Respiratory Symptoms Visiting Emergency Departments in Europe

BACKGROUND

Inappropriate antibiotic prescribing often occurs in children with self-limiting respiratory tract infections, contributing to antimicrobial resistance. It has been suggested that rapid viral testing can reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing. We aimed to assess the association between rapid viral testing at the Emergency Department (ED) and antibiotic prescription in febrile children.

METHODS

This study is part of the MOFICHE study, which is an observational multicenter study including routine data of febrile children (0-18 years) attending 12 European EDs. In children with respiratory symptoms visiting 6 EDs equipped with rapid viral testing, we performed multivariable logistic regression analysis regarding rapid viral testing and antibiotic prescription adjusted for patient characteristics, disease severity, diagnostic tests, focus of infection, admission, and ED.

RESULTS

A rapid viral test was performed in 1061 children (8%) and not performed in 11,463 children. Rapid viral test usage was not associated with antibiotic prescription (aOR 0.9, 95% CI: 0.8-1.1). A positive rapid viral test was associated with less antibiotic prescription compared with children without test performed (aOR 0.6, 95% CI: 0.5-0.8), which remained significant after adjustment for CRP and chest radiograph result. Twenty percent of the positively tested children received antibiotics. A negative rapid viral test was not associated with antibiotic prescription (aOR 1.2, 95% CI: 1.0-1.4).

CONCLUSIONS

Rapid viral test usage did not reduce overall antibiotic prescription, whereas a positive rapid viral test did reduce antibiotic prescription at the ED. Implementation of rapid viral testing in routine emergency care and compliance to the rapid viral test outcome will reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing at the ED.

Pediatric Preparedness of European Emergency Departments: A Multicenter International Survey

INTRODUCTION

Children and adolescents often lack optimal emergency care. The objective of the study was to assess the level of preparedness of European emergency departments (EDs) for pediatric patients.

METHODS

This was an international multicenter Internet-based survey of EDs with attending children and adolescents younger than 18 years in 101 EDs from 21 countries. Questionnaires were based on the recommendations in the consensus document published by the International Federation for Emergency Medicine, which defines quality of care standards for children aged 0 to 18 years in the ED. A multivariate binary logistic regression was performed to identify independent factors that are related to the expected standards of care provided by the EDs.

RESULTS

Most (95.0%) of the EDs fulfilled more than 50% of the International Federation for Emergency Medicine essential standards of care, and 24 (23.7%) EDs fulfilled more than 80%. Best results were obtained in the standards that related to equipment, departmental policies, procedures, and protocols, and being able to stabilize an ill or injured child. Worst results were associated with inadequate staffing levels, quality, and safety; adolescents, mental health, and substance misuse delivery issues; and major incidents. Being included in a multicenter international research network was the unique independent factor associated with a good level of preparedness of the EDs for pediatric cases.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, surveyed European EDs fit well the essential standards of pediatric emergency care. Certain improvement actions are required to guarantee that essential standards of care for pediatric emergency care are always fulfilled in European EDs.

A NICE combination for predicting hospitalisation at the Emergency Department: a European multicentre observational study of febrile children

Background

Prolonged Emergency Department (ED) stay causes crowding and negatively impacts quality of care. We developed and validated a prediction model for early identification of febrile children with a high risk of hospitalisation in order to improve ED flow.

Methods

The MOFICHE study prospectively collected data on febrile children (0-18 years) presenting to 12 European EDs. A prediction models was constructed using multivariable logistic regression and included patient characteristics available at triage. We determined the discriminative values of the model by calculating the area under the receiver operating curve (AUC).

Findings

Of 38,424 paediatric encounters, 9,735 children were admitted to the ward and 157 to the PICU. The prediction model, combining patient characteristics and NICE alarming, yielded an AUC of 0.84 (95%CI 0.83-0.84).The model performed well for a rule-in threshold of 75% (specificity 99.0% (95%CI 98.9-99.1%, positive likelihood ratio 15.1 (95%CI 13.4-17.1), positive predictive value 0.84 (95%CI 0.82-0.86)) and a rule-out threshold of 7.5% (sensitivity 95.4% (95%CI 95.0-95.8), negative likelihood ratio 0.15 (95%CI 0.14-0.16), negative predictive value 0..95 (95%CI 0.95-9.96)). Validation in a separate dataset showed an excellent AUC of 0.91 (95%CI 0.90- 0.93). The model performed well for identifying children needing PICU admission (AUC 0.95, 95%CI 0.93-0.97). A digital calculator was developed to facilitate clinical use.

Interpretation

Patient characteristics and NICE alarming signs available at triage can be used to identify febrile children at high risk for hospitalisation and can be used to improve ED flow.

Funding

European Union, NIHR, NHS.

A Novel Framework for Phenotyping Children With Suspected or Confirmed Infection for Future Biomarker Studies

Background: The limited diagnostic accuracy of biomarkers in children at risk of a serious bacterial infection (SBI) might be due to the imperfect reference standard of SBI. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of a new classification algorithm for biomarker discovery in children at risk of SBI. Methods: We used data from five previously published, prospective observational biomarker discovery studies, which included patients aged 0- <16 years: the Alder Hey emergency department (n = 1,120), Alder Hey pediatric intensive care unit (n = 355), Erasmus emergency department (n = 1,993), Maasstad emergency department (n = 714) and St. Mary's hospital (n = 200) cohorts. Biomarkers including procalcitonin (PCT) (4 cohorts), neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin-2 (NGAL) (3 cohorts) and resistin (2 cohorts) were compared for their ability to classify patients according to current standards (dichotomous classification of SBI vs. non-SBI), vs. a proposed PERFORM classification algorithm that assign patients to one of eleven categories. These categories were based on clinical phenotype, test outcomes and C-reactive protein level and accounted for the uncertainty of final diagnosis in many febrile children. The success of the biomarkers was measured by the Area under the receiver operating Curves (AUCs) when they were used individually or in combination. Results: Using the new PERFORM classification system, patients with clinically confident bacterial diagnosis ("definite bacterial" category) had significantly higher levels of PCT, NGAL and resistin compared with those with a clinically confident viral diagnosis ("definite viral" category). Patients with diagnostic uncertainty had biomarker concentrations that varied across the spectrum. AUCs were higher for classification of "definite bacterial" vs. "definite viral" following the PERFORM algorithm than using the "SBI" vs. "non-SBI" classification; summary AUC for PCT was 0.77 (95% CI 0.72-0.82) vs. 0.70 (95% CI 0.65-0.75); for NGAL this was 0.80 (95% CI 0.69-0.91) vs. 0.70 (95% CI 0.58-0.81); for resistin this was 0.68 (95% CI 0.61-0.75) vs. 0.64 (0.58-0.69) The three biomarkers combined had summary AUC of 0.83 (0.77-0.89) for "definite bacterial" vs. "definite viral" infections and 0.71 (0.67-0.74) for "SBI" vs. "non-SBI." Conclusion: Biomarkers of bacterial infection were strongly associated with the diagnostic categories using the PERFORM classification system in five independent cohorts. Our proposed algorithm provides a novel framework for phenotyping children with suspected or confirmed infection for future biomarker studies.

A clinical prediction model to identify children at risk for revisits with serious illness to the emergency department: A prospective multicentre observational study

Background

To develop a clinical prediction model to identify children at risk for revisits with serious illness to the emergency department.

Methods and findings

A secondary analysis of a prospective multicentre observational study in five European EDs (the TRIAGE study), including consecutive children aged <16 years who were discharged following their initial ED visit (‘index’ visit), in 2012–2015. Standardised data on patient characteristics, Manchester Triage System urgency classification, vital signs, clinical interventions and procedures were collected. The outcome measure was serious illness defined as hospital admission or PICU admission or death in ED after an unplanned revisit within 7 days of the index visit. Prediction models were developed using multivariable logistic regression using characteristics of the index visit to predict the likelihood of a revisit with a serious illness. The clinical model included day and time of presentation, season, age, gender, presenting problem, triage urgency, and vital signs. An extended model added laboratory investigations, imaging, and intravenous medications. Cross validation between the five sites was performed, and discrimination and calibration were assessed using random effects models. A digital calculator was constructed for clinical implementation. 7,891 children out of 98,561 children had a revisit to the ED (8.0%), of whom 1,026 children (1.0%) returned to the ED with a serious illness. Rates of revisits with serious illness varied between the hospitals (range 0.7–2.2%). The clinical model had a summary Area under the operating curve (AUC) of 0.70 (95% CI 0.65–0.74) and summary calibration slope of 0.83 (95% CI 0.67–0.99). 4,433 children (5%) had a risk of > = 3%, which was useful for ruling in a revisit with serious illness, with positive likelihood ratio 4.41 (95% CI 3.87–5.01) and specificity 0.96 (95% CI 0.95–0.96). 37,546 (39%) had a risk <0.5%, which was useful for ruling out a revisit with serious illness (negative likelihood ratio 0.30 (95% CI 0.25–0.35), sensitivity 0.88 (95% CI 0.86–0.90)). The extended model had an improved summary AUC of 0.71 (95% CI 0.68–0.75) and summary calibration slope of 0.84 (95% CI 0.71–0.97). As study limitations, variables on ethnicity and social deprivation could not be included, and only return visits to the original hospital and not to those of surrounding hospitals were recorded.

Conclusion

We developed a prediction model and a digital calculator which can aid physicians identifying those children at highest and lowest risks for developing a serious illness after initial discharge from the ED, allowing for more targeted safety netting advice and follow-up.

Focused echocardiography, end-tidal carbon dioxide, arterial blood pressure or near-infrared spectroscopy monitoring during paediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation: A scoping review

AIM

To evaluate the individual use and predictive value of focused echocardiography, end-tidal carbon dioxide (EtCO2), invasive arterial blood pressure (BP) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in children.

METHODS

This scoping review was undertaken as part of the continuous evidence evaluation process of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) and based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) extension for scoping reviews. PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL and EMBASE were searched from the last ILCOR reviews until September 2020. We included all published studies evaluating the effect of echocardiography, EtCO2, BP or NIRS guided CPR on clinical outcomes and quality of CPR.

RESULTS

We identified eight observational studies, including 288 children. Two case series reported the use of echocardiography, one in detecting pulmonary emboli, the second in cardiac standstill, where contractility was regained with the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. The two studies describing EtCO2 were ambivalent regarding the association between mean values and any outcomes. Mean diastolic BP was associated with increased survival and favourable neurological outcome, but not with new substantive morbidity in two studies describing an overlapping population. NIRS values reflected changes in EtCO2 and cerebral blood volume index in two studies, with lower values in patients who did not achieve return of circulation.

CONCLUSION

Although there seems some beneficial effect of these intra-arrest variables, higher quality paediatric studies are needed to evaluate whether echocardiography, EtCO2, BP or NIRS guided CPR could improve outcomes.

Appropriate Tourniquet Types in the Pediatric Population: A Systematic Review

Trauma is the leading cause of mortality in those aged 1-19, with hemorrhage accounting for up to 40% of all trauma deaths. Manufactured tourniquets are recommended for the control of life-threatening extremity hemorrhage in adults but their use in the pediatric population requires further investigation. We performed a systematic review to evaluate the most appropriate tourniquet design for use in the pediatric population. A literature search of Embase and the Cochran databases of trials and systematic reviews on October 1, 2020 identified 454 unique references, of which 15 were included for full-text screening. Two single-arm observational studies with a high risk of bias evaluated the use of windlass tourniquets in the pediatric population (73 patients, age 2-16 years). The certainty of the evidence was very low. In both studies, conducted on uninjured extremities, the use of a manufactured windlass tourniquet, specifically the Combat Application Tourniquet (C-A-T®) Generation 7, led to the cessation of Doppler detected pulses in 71/71 (100%) of upper extremities and 69/73 (94.5%) of lower extremities. Of the four failures, one participant withdrew due to pain and three tourniquet applications failed to occlude pulses after three turns of the windlass. No controls were used for comparison. In conclusion, two observational studies demonstrated that windlass tourniquets were able to abolish distal pulses in children as young as two years of age and with a minimum limb circumference of 13 cm. These preliminary findings may be helpful for organizations in the creation of guidelines for the management of life-threatening extremity bleeding in children.

Variation in hospital admission in febrile children evaluated at the Emergency Department (ED) in Europe: PERFORM, a multicentre prospective observational study

Objectives

Hospitalisation is frequently used as a marker of disease severity in observational Emergency Department (ED) studies. The comparison of ED admission rates is complex in potentially being influenced by the characteristics of the region, ED, physician and patient. We aimed to study variation in ED admission rates of febrile children, to assess whether variation could be explained by disease severity and to identify patient groups with large variation, in order to use this to reduce unnecessary health care utilization that is often due to practice variation.

Design

MOFICHE (Management and Outcome of Fever in children in Europe, part of the PERFORM study, www.perform2020.org), is a prospective cohort study using routinely collected data on febrile children regarding patient characteristics (age, referral, vital signs and clinical alarming signs), diagnostic tests, therapy, diagnosis and hospital admission.

Setting and participants

Data were collected on febrile children aged 0–18 years presenting to 12 European EDs (2017–2018).

Main outcome measures

We compared admission rates between EDs by using standardised admission rates after adjusting for patient characteristics and initiated tests at the ED, where standardised rates >1 demonstrate higher admission rates than expected and rates <1 indicate lower rates than expected based on the ED patient population.

Results

We included 38,120 children. Of those, 9.695 (25.4%) were admitted to a general ward (range EDs 5.1–54.5%). Adjusted standardised admission rates ranged between 0.6 and 1.5. The largest variation was seen in short admission rates (0.1–5.0), PICU admission rates (0.2–2.2), upper respiratory tract infections (0.4–1.7) and fever without focus (0.5–2.7). Variation was small in sepsis/meningitis (0.9–1.1).

Conclusions

Large variation exists in admission rates of febrile children evaluated at European EDs, however, this variation is largely reduced after correcting for patient characteristics and therefore overall admission rates seem to adequately reflect disease severity or a potential for a severe disease course. However, for certain patient groups variation remains high even after adjusting for patient characteristics.

Pediatric Life Support 2020 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations

This 2020 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations (CoSTR) for pediatric life support is based on the most extensive evidence evaluation ever performed by the Pediatric Life Support Task Force. Three types of evidence evaluation were used in this review: systematic reviews, scoping reviews, and evidence updates. Per agreement with the evidence evaluation recommendations of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation, only systematic reviews could result in a new or revised treatment recommendation.Systematic reviews performed for this 2020 CoSTR for pediatric life support included the topics of sequencing of airway-breaths-compressions versus compressions-airway-breaths in the delivery of pediatric basic life support, the initial timing and dose intervals for epinephrine administration during resuscitation, and the targets for oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in pediatric patients after return of spontaneous circulation. The most controversial topics included the initial timing and dose intervals of epinephrine administration (new treatment recommendations were made) and the administration of fluid for infants and children with septic shock (this latter topic was evaluated by evidence update). All evidence reviews identified the paucity of pediatric data and the need for more research involving resuscitation of infants and children.

Pediatric Life Support: 2020 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations

This 2020 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations (CoSTR) for pediatric life support is based on the most extensive evidence evaluation ever performed by the Pediatric Life Support Task Force. Three types of evidence evaluation were used in this review: systematic reviews, scoping reviews, and evidence updates. Per agreement with the evidence evaluation recommendations of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation, only systematic reviews could result in a new or revised treatment recommendation. Systematic reviews performed for this 2020 CoSTR for pediatric life support included the topics of sequencing of airway-breaths-compressions versus compressions-airway-breaths in the delivery of pediatric basic life support, the initial timing and dose intervals for epinephrine administration during resuscitation, and the targets for oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in pediatric patients after return of spontaneous circulation. The most controversial topics included the initial timing and dose intervals of epinephrine administration (new treatment recommendations were made) and the administration of fluid for infants and children with septic shock (this latter topic was evaluated by evidence update). All evidence reviews identified the paucity of pediatric data and the need for more research involving resuscitation of infants and children.

Pediatric Life Support: 2020 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations

This 2020 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations (CoSTR) for pediatric life support is based on the most extensive evidence evaluation ever performed by the Pediatric Life Support Task Force. Three types of evidence evaluation were used in this review: systematic reviews, scoping reviews, and evidence updates. Per agreement with the evidence evaluation recommendations of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation, only systematic reviews could result in a new or revised treatment recommendation. Systematic reviews performed for this 2020 CoSTR for pediatric life support included the topics of sequencing of airway-breaths-compressions versus compressions-airway-breaths in the delivery of pediatric basic life support, the initial timing and dose intervals for epinephrine administration during resuscitation, and the targets for oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in pediatric patients after return of spontaneous circulation. The most controversial topics included the initial timing and dose intervals of epinephrine administration (new treatment recommendations were made) and the administration of fluid for infants and children with septic shock (this latter topic was evaluated by evidence update). All evidence reviews identified the paucity of pediatric data and the need for more research involving resuscitation of infants and children.

Sex-specific differences in children attending the emergency department: prospective observational study

OBJECTIVE

To assess the role of sex in the presentation and management of children attending the emergency department (ED).

DESIGN

The TrIAGE project (TRiage Improvements Across General Emergency departments), a prospective observational study based on curated electronic health record data.

SETTING

Five diverse European hospitals in four countries (Austria, The Netherlands, Portugal, UK).

PARTICIPANTS

All consecutive paediatric ED visits of children under the age of 16 during the study period (8-36 months between 2012 and 2015).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The association between sex (male of female) and diagnostic tests and disease management in general paediatric ED visits and in subgroups presenting with trauma or musculoskeletal, gastrointestinal and respiratory problems and fever. Results from the different hospitals were pooled in a random effects meta-analysis.

RESULTS

116 172 ED visits were included of which 63 042 (54%) by boys and 53 715 (46%) by girls. Boys accounted for the majority of ED visits in childhood, and girls in adolescence. After adjusting for age, triage urgency and clinical presentation, girls had more laboratory tests compared with boys (pooled OR 1.10, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.15). Additionally, girls had more laboratory tests in ED visits for respiratory problems (pooled OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.26) and more imaging in visits for trauma or musculoskeletal problems (pooled OR 1.10, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.20) and respiratory conditions (pooled OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.24). Girls with respiratory problems were less often treated with inhalation medication (pooled OR 0.76, 95% CI 0.70 to 0.83). There was no difference in hospital admission between the sexes (pooled OR 0.99, 95% CI 0.95 to 1.04).

CONCLUSION

In childhood, boys represent the majority of ED visits and they receive more inhalation medication. Unexpectedly, girls receive more diagnostic tests compared with boys. Further research is needed to investigate whether this is due to pathophysiological differences and differences in disease course, whether girls present signs and symptoms differently, or whether sociocultural factors are responsible.

Emergency care provided to refugee children in Europe: RefuNET: a cross-sectional survey study

BACKGROUND

Refugee children and young people have complex healthcare needs. However, issues related to acute healthcare provision for refugee children across Europe remain unexplored. This study aimed to describe the urgent and emergency healthcare needs of refugee children in Europe, and to identify obstacles to providing this care.

METHODS

An online cross-sectional survey was distributed to European healthcare professionals via research networks between 1 February and 1 October 2017 addressing health issues of children and young people aged <18 years fulfilling international criteria of refugee status, presenting to emergency departments. Survey domains explored (1) respondent's institution, (2) local healthcare system, (3) available guidance and educational tools, (4) perceived obstacles and improvements required, (5) countries of origin of refugee children being seen and (6) presenting signs and symptoms of refugee children.

RESULTS

One hundred and forty-eight respondents from 23 European countries completed the survey, and most worked in academic institutions (n=118, 80%). Guidance on immunisations was available for 30% of respondents, and on safeguarding issues (31%), screening for infection (32%) or mental health (14%). Thirteen per cent reported regular teaching sessions related to refugee child health. Language barriers (60%), unknown medical history (54%), post-traumatic stress disorder (52%) and mental health issues (50%) were perceived obstacles to providing care; severity of presenting illness, rare or drug-resistant pathogens and funding were not.

CONCLUSIONS

Many hospitals are not adequately prepared for providing urgent and emergency care to refugee children and young people. Although clinicians are generally well equipped to deal with most types and severity of presenting illnesses, we identified specific obstacles such as language barriers, mental health issues, safeguarding issues and lack of information on previous medical history. There was a clear need for more guidelines and targeted education on refugee child health.

Development and validation of a Paediatric Early Warning Score for use in the emergency department: a multicentre study

BACKGROUND

Paediatric Early Warning Scores (PEWSs) are being used increasingly in hospital wards to identify children at risk of clinical deterioration, but few scores exist that were designed for use in emergency care settings. To improve the prioritisation of children in the emergency department (ED), we developed and validated an ED-PEWS.

METHODS

The TrIAGE project is a prospective European observational study based on electronic health record data collected between Jan 1, 2012, and Nov 1, 2015, from five diverse EDs in four European countries (Netherlands, the UK, Austria, and Portugal). This study included data from all consecutive ED visits of children under age 16 years. The main outcome measure was a three-category reference standard (high, intermediate, low urgency) that was developed as part of the TrIAGE project as a proxy for true patient urgency. The ED-PEWS was developed based on an ordinal logistic regression model, with cross-validation by setting. After completing the study, we fully externally validated the ED-PEWS in an independent cohort of febrile children from a different ED (Greece).

FINDINGS

Of 119 209 children, 2007 (1·7%) were of high urgency and 29 127 (24·4%) of intermediate urgency, according to our reference standard. We developed an ED-PEWS consisting of age and the predictors heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, consciousness, capillary refill time, and work of breathing. The ED-PEWS showed a cross-validated c-statistic of 0·86 (95% prediction interval 0·82-0·90) for high-urgency patients and 0·67 (0·61-0·73) for high-urgency or intermediate-urgency patients. A cutoff of score of at least 15 was useful for identifying high-urgency patients with a specificity of 0·90 (95% CI 0·87-0·92) while a cutoff score of less than 6 was useful for identifying low-urgency patients with a sensitivity of 0·83 (0·81-0·85).

INTERPRETATION

The proposed ED-PEWS can assist in identifying high-urgency and low-urgency patients in the ED, and improves prioritisation compared with existing PEWSs.

FUNDING

Stichting de Drie Lichten, Stichting Sophia Kinderziekenhuis Fonds, and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

Management of children visiting the emergency department during out-of-office hours: an observational study

BACKGROUND

The aim was to study the characteristics and management of children visiting the emergency department (ED) during out-of-office hours.

METHODS

We analysed electronic health record data from 119 204 children visiting one of five EDs in four European countries. Patient characteristics and management (diagnostic tests, treatment, hospital admission and paediatric intensive care unit admission) were compared between children visiting during office hours and evening shifts, night shifts and weekend day shifts. Analyses were corrected for age, gender, Manchester Triage System urgency, abnormal vital signs, presenting problems and hospital.

RESULTS

Patients presenting at night were younger (median (IQR) age: 3.7 (1.4-8.2) years vs 4.8 (1.8-9.9)), more often classified as high urgent (16.3% vs 9.9%) and more often had ≥2 abnormal vital signs (22.8% vs 18.1%) compared with office hours. After correcting for disease severity, laboratory and radiological tests were less likely to be requested (adjusted OR (aOR): 0.82, 95% CI 0.78-0.86 and aOR: 0.64, 95% CI 0.60-0.67, respectively); treatment was more likely to be undertaken (aOR: 1.56, 95% CI 1.49-1.63) and patients were more likely to be admitted to the hospital (aOR: 1.32, 95% CI 1.24-1.41) at night. Patterns in management during out-of-office hours were comparable between the different hospitals, with variability remaining.

CONCLUSIONS

Children visiting during the night are relatively more seriously ill, highlighting the need to keep improving emergency care on a 24-hour-a-day basis. Further research is needed to explain the differences in management during the night and how these differences affect patient outcomes.

Management of Children With Fever at Risk for Pediatric Sepsis: A Prospective Study in Pediatric Emergency Care

Objective: To study warning signs of serious infections in febrile children presenting to PED, ascertain their risk of having sepsis, and evaluate their management. Design: Prospective observational study. Setting: A single pediatric emergency department (PED). Participants: Febrile children, aged 1 month-16 years, with >= 1 warning signs of sepsis. Interventions and Main outcome measures: Clinical characteristics, including different thresholds for tachycardia and tachypnoea, and their association with (1) delivery of pediatric sepsis 6 (PS6) interventions, (2) final diagnosis of invasive bacterial infection (IBI), (3) the risk for pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission, and (4) death. Results: Forty-one percent of 5,156 febrile children had warning signs of sepsis. 1,606 (34%) children had tachypnoea and 1,907 (39%) children had tachycardia when using APLS threshold values. Using the NICE sepsis guidelines thresholds resulted in 1,512 (32%) children having tachypnoea (kappa 0.56) and 2,769 (57%) children having tachycardia (kappa 0.66). Of 1,628 PED visits spanning 1,551 disease episodes, six children (0.4%) had IBI, with one death (0.06%), corresponding with 256 children requiring escalation of care according to sepsis guideline recommendations for each child with IBI. There were five additional PICU admissions (0.4%). 121 (7%) had intravenous antibiotics in PED; 39 children (2%) had an intravenous fluid bolus, inotrope drugs were started in one child. 440 children (27%) were reviewed by a senior clinician. In 4/11 children with IBI or PICU admission or death, PS6 interventions were delivered within 60 min after arriving. 1,062 (65%) visits had no PS6 interventions. Diagnostic performance of vital signs or sepsis criteria for predicting serious illness yielded a large proportion of false positives. Lactataemia was not associated with giving iv fluid boluses (p = 0.19) or presence of serious bacterial infections (p = 0.128). Conclusion: Many febrile children (41%) present with warning signs for sepsis, with only few of them undergoing investigations or treatment for true sepsis. Children with positive isolates in blood or CSF culture presented in a heterogeneous manner, with varying levels of urgency and severity of illness. Delivery of sepsis care can be improved in only a minority of children with IBI or admitted to PICU.

Analysis of emergency department prediction tools in evaluating febrile young infants at risk for serious infections

Objective

Febrile infants≤3 months old constitute a vulnerable group at risk of serious infections (SI). We aimed to (1) study the test performance of two clinical assessment tools—the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Traffic Light System and Severity Index Score (SIS) in predicting SI among all febrile young infants and (2) evaluate the performance of three low-risk criteria—the Rochester Criteria (RC), Philadelphia Criteria (PC) and Boston Criteria (BC) among well-looking febrile infants.

Methods

A retrospective validation study was conducted. Serious illness included both bacterial and serious viral illness such as meningitis and encephalitis. We included febrile infants≤3 months old presenting to a paediatric emergency department in Singapore between March 2015 and February 2016. Infants were assigned to high-risk and low-risk groups for SI according to each of the five tools. We compared the performance of the NICE guideline and SIS at initial clinical assessment for all infants and the low-risk criteria—RC, PC and BC—among well-looking infants. We presented their performance using sensitivity, specificity, positive, negative predictive values and likelihood ratios.

Results

Of 1057 infants analysed, 326 (30.8%) were diagnosed with SI. The NICE guideline had an overall sensitivity of 93.3% (95% CI 90.0 to 95.7), while the SIS had a sensitivity of 79.1% (95% CI 74.3 to 83.4). The incidence of SI was similar among infants who were well-looking and those who were not. Among the low-risk criteria, the RC performed with the highest sensitivity in infants aged 0–28 days (98.2%, 95% CI 90.3% to 100.0%) and 29–60 days (92.4%, 95% CI 86.0% to 96.5%), while the PC performed best in infants aged 61–90 days (100.0%, 95% CI 95.4% to 100.0%).

Conclusions

The NICE guideline achieved high sensitivity in our study population, and the RC had the highest sensitivity in predicting for SI among well-appearing febrile infants. Prospective validation is required.

Research priorities for European paediatric emergency medicine

OBJECTIVE

Research in European Paediatric Emergency Medicine (REPEM) network is a collaborative group of 69 paediatric emergency medicine (PEM) physicians from 20 countries in Europe, initiated in 2006. To further improve paediatric emergency care in Europe, the aim of this study was to define research priorities for PEM in Europe to guide the development of future research projects.

DESIGN AND SETTING

We carried out an online survey in a modified three-stage Delphi study. Eligible participants were members of the REPEM network. In stage 1, the REPEM steering committee prepared a list of research topics. In stage 2, REPEM members rated on a 6-point scale research topics and they could add research topics and comment on the list for further refinement. Stage 3 included further prioritisation using the Hanlon Process of Prioritisation (HPP) to give more emphasis to the feasibility of a research topic.

RESULTS

Based on 52 respondents (response rates per stage varying from 41% to 57%), we identified the conditions 'fever', 'sepsis' and 'respiratory infections', and the processes/interventions 'biomarkers', 'risk stratification' and 'practice variation' as common themes of research interest. The HPP identified highest priority for 4 of the 5 highest prioritised items by the Delphi process, incorporating prevalence and severity of each condition and feasibility of undertaking such research.

CONCLUSIONS

While the high diversity in emergency department (ED) populations, cultures, healthcare systems and healthcare delivery in European PEM prompts to focus on practice variation of ED conditions, our defined research priority list will help guide further collaborative research efforts within the REPEM network to improve PEM care in Europe.

Can real-time feedback improve the simulated infant cardiopulmonary resuscitation performance of basic life support and lay rescuers?

BACKGROUND

Performing high-quality chest compressions during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) requires achieving of a target depth, release force, rate and duty cycle.

OBJECTIVE

This study evaluates whether 'real time' feedback could improve infant CPR performance in basic life support-trained (BLS) and lay rescuers. It also investigates whether delivering rescue breaths hinders performing high-quality chest compressions. Also, this study reports raw data from the two methods used to calculate duty cycle performance.

METHODOLOGY

BLS (n=28) and lay (n=38) rescuers were randomly allocated to respective 'feedback' or 'no-feedback' groups, to perform two-thumb chest compressions on an instrumented infant manikin. Chest compression performance was then investigated across three compression algorithms (compression only; five rescue breaths then compression only; five rescue breaths then 15:2 compressions). Two different routes to calculate duty cycle were also investigated, due to conflicting instruction in the literature.

RESULTS

No-feedback BLS and lay groups demonstrated <3% compliance against each performance target. The feedback rescuers produced 20-fold and 10-fold increases in BLS and lay cohorts, respectively, achieving all targets concurrently in >60% and >25% of all chest compressions, across all three algorithms. Performing rescue breaths did not impede chest compression quality.

CONCLUSIONS

A feedback system has great potential to improve infant CPR performance, especially in cohorts that have an underlying understanding of the technique. The addition of rescue breaths-a potential distraction-did not negatively influence chest compression quality. Duty cycle performance depended on the calculation method, meaning there is an urgent requirement to agree a single measure.

Early warning scores in paediatrics: an overview

Paediatric Early Warning Scores (PEWS)are used in hospitalised patients to detect physiological deterioration and is being used increasingly throughout healthcare systems with a limited evidence based. There are two versions in general use that can lead to a clinical response, either by triggering an action or by reaching a 'threshold' when graduated responses may occur depending on the value of the score. Most evidence has come from research based on paediatric inpatients in specialist children's hospitals, although the range of research is expanding, taking into account other clinical areas such as paediatric intensive care unit, emergency department and the prehospital setting. Currrently, it is uncertain whether a unified system does deliver benefits in terms of outcomes or financial savings, but it may inform and improve patient communication. PEWS may be an additional tool in context of a patient's specific condition, and future work will include its validation for different conditions, different clinical settings, patient populations and organisational structure. The incorporation of PEWS within the electronic health records may form a keystone of the safe system framework and allow the development of consistent PEWS system to standardise practice.

Do paediatric early warning scores relate to emergency department outcomes for children aged 0‐2 years brought in by ambulance?

Introduction:

Ambulance service policy requires paramedics in certain parts of the UK to transport children aged 0–2 years to hospital, regardless of their presenting complaint. While there are a number of paediatric early warning scores (PEWS) that exist to detect deterioration in the hospitalised child, no study has considered the potential relationship between a PEWS recorded by the ambulance service and emergency department (ED) outcome. This study aims to evaluate and understand the potential utility of PEWS in an ambulance service setting.

Methods:

A retrospective analysis of patient reports was undertaken, using data from the London Ambulance Service (LAS) and St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, collected over a 12-month period (June 2013 to June 2014). PEWS were calculated using LAS vital signs and compared against ED discharge outcomes.

Results:

From a randomised sample of 300 patient records, 169 were included in the final analysis. A total of 100/169 (59.2%) were discharged to home, 30 (17.8%) referred to their GP and 18 (10.7%) were admitted following assessment in the ED. A total of 87/169 had a PEWS of 1, with the vast majority of PEWS 1 (n = 64) resulting in discharge to home. PEWS for admission showed low sensitivity (6.8–10.12%) across all scores. Specificity was high for lower scores, but positive predictive values (PPV) were low. PEWS for GP referral also demonstrated low sensitivity (15.53–18.12%) but with higher specificity across all scores. PPV was high for scores > 2 and a PEWS of 2. PEWS for discharge to home showed higher sensitivity and specificity than other outcomes, with a PEWS of 2 demonstrating high sensitivity (61.07%), specificity (55.0%) and the PPV was 90%.

Conclusion:

PEWS demonstrated high specificity, but poor sensitivity in all outcome measures. As a potential diagnostic test to predict ED outcome, in this study PEWS performed poorly. Further work is required to determine the utility of PEWS, or other early warning scores, for use in an out-of-hospital setting.

Defining significant childhood illness and injury in the Emergency Department: a consensus of UK and Ireland expert opinion

BACKGROUND

Clarifying whether paediatric early warning scores (PEWS) accurately predict significant illness is a research priority for UK and Ireland paediatric emergency medicine (EM). However, a standardised list of significant conditions to benchmark these scores does not exist.

OBJECTIVES

To establish standardised significant illness endpoints for use in determining the performance accuracy of PEWS and safety systems in emergency departments (ED), using a consensus of expert opinion in the UK and Ireland.

DESIGN

Between July 2017 and February 2018, three online Delphi rounds established a consensus on 'significant' clinical conditions, derived from a list of common childhood illness/injury ED presentations. Conditions warranting acute hospital admission in the opinion of the respondent were defined as 'significant', using a 5-point Likert scale. The consensus was a priori ≥80% (positive or negative). 258 clinical conditions were tested.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTINGS

Eligible participants were consultants in acute or EM paediatrics, or adult EM, accessed via 53 PERUKI (Paediatric Emergency Research in the UK and Ireland)'s research collaborative sites, and 27 GAPRUKI (General and Adolescent Paediatric Research in the UK and Ireland)'s sites, 17 of which overlap with PERUKI.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

To create a list of conditions regarded as 'significant'with ≥80% expert consensus.

RESULTS

43 (68%) of 63 PERUKI and GAPRUKI sites responded; 295 experts were invited to participate. Participants in rounds 1, 2 and 3 were 223 (76%), 177 (60%) and 148 (50%), respectively; 154 conditions reached positive consensus as 'significant'; 1 condition reached a negative consensus (uncomplicated Henoch-Schönlein purpura); and 37 conditions achieved non-consensus.

CONCLUSIONS

A list of significant childhood conditions has been created using UK and Irish expert consensus, for research purposes, for the first time. This will be used as the benchmark endpoint list for future research into PEWS/safety systems performance in EDs.

Paediatric traumatic cardiac arrest: the development of an algorithm to guide recognition, management and decisions to terminate resuscitation

INTRODUCTION

Paediatric traumatic cardiac arrest (TCA) is a high acuity, low frequency event. Traditionally, survival from TCA has been reported as low, with some believing resuscitation is futile. Within the adult population, there is growing evidence to suggest that with early and aggressive correction of reversible causes, survival from TCA may be comparable with that seen from medical out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. Key to this survival has been the adoption of a standardised approach to resuscitation. The aim of this study was, by a process of consensus, to develop an algorithm for the management of paediatric TCA for adoption in the UK.

METHODS

A modified consensus development meeting of UK experts involved in the management of paediatric TCA was held. Statements discussed at the meeting were drawn from those that did not reach consensus (positive/negative) from a linked three-round online Delphi study. 19 statements relating to the diagnosis, management and futility of paediatric TCA were initially discussed in small groups before each participant anonymously recorded their agreement with the statement using 'yes', 'no' or 'don't know'. In keeping with our Delphi study, consensus was set a priori at 70%. Statements reaching consensus were included in the proposed algorithm.

RESULTS

41 participants attended the meeting. Of the 19 statements discussed, 13 reached positive consensus and were included in the algorithm. A single statement regarding initial rescue breaths reached negative consensus and was excluded. Consensus was not reached for five statements, including the use of vasopressors and thoracotomy for haemorrhage control in blunt trauma.

CONCLUSION

In attempt to standardise our approach to the management of paediatric TCA and to improve outcomes, we present the first consensus-based algorithm specific to the paediatric population. While this algorithm was developed for adoption in the UK, it may be applicable to similar healthcare systems internationally.

Paediatric traumatic cardiac arrest: a Delphi study to establish consensus on definition and management

AIMS

Paediatric traumatic cardiac arrest (TCA) is associated with low survival and poor outcomes. The mechanisms that underlie TCA are different from medical cardiac arrest; the approach to treatment of TCA may therefore also need to differ to optimise outcomes. The aim of this study was to explore the opinion of subject matter experts regarding the diagnosis and treatment of paediatric TCA, and to reach consensus on how best to manage this group of patients.

METHODS

An online Delphi study was conducted over three rounds, with the aim of achieving consensus (defined as 70% agreement) on statements related to the diagnosis and management of paediatric TCA. Participants were invited from paediatric and adult emergency medicine, paediatric anaesthetics, paediatric ICU and paediatric surgery, as well as Paediatric Major Trauma Centre leads and representatives from the Resuscitation Council UK. Statements were informed by literature reviews and were based on elements of APLS resuscitation algorithms as well as some concepts used in the management of adult TCA; they ranged from confirmation of cardiac arrest to the indications for thoracotomy.

RESULTS

73 experts completed all three rounds between June and November 2016. Consensus was reached on 14 statements regarding the diagnosis and management of paediatric TCA; oxygenation and ventilatory support, along with rapid volume replacement with warmed blood, improve survival. The duration of cardiac arrest and the lack of a response to intervention, along with cardiac standstill on ultrasound, help to guide the decision to terminate resuscitation.

CONCLUSION

This study has given a consensus-based framework to guide protocol development in the management of paediatric TCA, though further work is required in other key areas including its acceptability to clinicians.

2017 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations Summary

The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation has initiated a near-continuous review of cardiopulmonary resuscitation science that replaces the previous 5-year cyclic batch-and-queue approach process. This is the first of an annual series of International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations summary articles that will include the cardiopulmonary resuscitation science reviewed by the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation in the previous year. The review this year includes 5 basic life support and 1 pediatric Consensuses on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations. Each of these includes a summary of the science and its quality based on Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria and treatment recommendations. Insights into the deliberations of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation task force members are provided in Values and Preferences sections. Finally, the task force members have prioritized and listed the top 3 knowledge gaps for each population, intervention, comparator, and outcome question.