Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26024532›Full record

Trial reportPloS one2015

Impact of a clinical decision model for febrile children at risk for serious bacterial infections at the emergency department: a randomized controlled trial.

Evelien de Vos-Kerkhof, Ruud G Nijman, Yvonne Vergouwe, Suzanne Polinder, Ewout W Steyerberg, Johan van der Lei, Henriëtte A Moll, Rianne Oostenbrink

Open access · goldAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
17citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
3.2field-weighted citation impact, top 8% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 36 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Accuracy of the NICE traffic light system in children presenting to general practice: a retrospective cohort study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2022
    Article
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  15. Fever in Children: Pearls and Pitfalls.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2017
    Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Evelien de Vos-KerkhofDepartment of general pediatrics, ErasmusMC-Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Ruud G NijmanDepartment of general pediatrics, ErasmusMC-Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Yvonne VergouweDepartment of Public Health, Center for Medical Decision Making, Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Suzanne PolinderDepartment of Public Health, Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Ewout W SteyerbergDepartment of Public Health, Center for Medical Decision Making, Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Johan van der LeiDepartment of Medical Informatics, Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Henriëtte A MollDepartment of general pediatrics, ErasmusMC-Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Rianne OostenbrinkDepartment of general pediatrics, ErasmusMC-Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Boston Children's Hospital · USErasmus MC - Sophia Children’s Hospital · NLErasmus University Rotterdam · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo assess the impact of a clinical decision model for febrile children at risk for serious bacterial infections (SBI) attending the emergency department (ED).

methodsRandomized controlled trial with 439 febrile children, aged 1 month-16 years, attending the pediatric ED of a Dutch university hospital during 2010-2012. Febrile children were randomly assigned to the intervention (clinical decision model; n = 219) or the control group (usual care; n = 220). The clinical decision model included clinical symptoms, vital signs, and C-reactive protein and provided high/low-risks for "pneumonia" and "other SBI". Nurses were guided by the intervention to initiate additional tests for high-risk children. The clinical decision model was evaluated by 1) area-under-the-receiver-operating-characteristic-curve (AUC) to indicate discriminative ability and 2) feasibility, to measure nurses' compliance to model recommendations. Primary patient outcome was defined as correct SBI diagnoses. Secondary process outcomes were defined as length of stay; diagnostic tests; antibiotic treatment; hospital admission; revisits and medical costs.

resultsThe decision model had good discriminative ability for both pneumonia (n = 33; AUC 0.83 (95% CI 0.75-0.90)) and other SBI (n = 22; AUC 0.81 (95% CI 0.72-0.90)). Compliance to model recommendations was high (86%). No differences in correct SBI determination were observed. Application of the clinical decision model resulted in less full-blood-counts (14% vs. 22%, p-value < 0.05) and more urine-dipstick testing (71% vs. 61%, p-value < 0.05).

conclusionsIn contrast to our expectations no substantial impact on patient outcome was perceived. The clinical decision model preserved, however, good discriminatory ability to detect SBI, achieved good compliance among nurses and resulted in a more standardized diagnostic approach towards febrile children, with less full blood-counts and more rightfully urine-dipstick testing.

trial registrationNederlands Trial Register NTR2381.

Indexed as

Emergency Medical ServicesEmergency Service, HospitalModels, BiologicalPneumonia, BacterialChild, PreschoolClinical Decision-MakingFemaleHumansInfantMaleRisk Factors

Identifiers

PMID26024532
PMCPMC4449197
OpenAlexW1863271655

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.