An Antipyretic Guideline for Pediatric Patients in an Urgent Care Setting.

Abstract

Fever is a common chief complaint and concern of parents in the pediatric population. Urgent care clinics commonly treat pediatric patients with fever and must also deal with an inappropriate parental knowledge base (Martins & Abecasis, 2016; Purssell, 2008; Wallenstein et al., 2012; Walsh, Edwards, & Fraser, 2007; Walsh, Edwards, & Fraser, 2008). The purpose of this evidence-based project was to design and implement a pediatric antipyretic guideline and fever facts sheet to increase recognition and the use of appropriate antipyretic treatments in the clinical and home settings. This project was implemented using the ACE Star Model of Knowledge Transformation at the Urgent Care Wailea Makena (UCWM), using a pretest– posttest design to evaluate the innovations’ impact on the outcomes. The practice change was an implementation of a protocol algorithm and an educational handout to address pediatric fever, which did not previously exist. Both innovations assured consistent evidence-based information would be followed and discussed with the parents of the pediatric patients in the clinic at the time of care. Historical data, from 2015 and 2016, was compared to post-implementation data collected from July 2017 through October 2017. Data elements were taken from charts, then compared and analyzed. The results suggest that the antipyretic guideline and fever facts sheet were successful in improving the recognition and appropriate treatment of fever in the pediatric patient aged six months to six years in an urgent care setting. It also suggests that health care team members and parents/caregivers of pediatric patients are receptive to improving and updating their knowledge of pediatric fever treatments.