Impact analysis of an evidence-based guideline on diagnosis of urinary tract infection in infants and young children with unexplained fever

Abstract

Several guidelines exist on urinary tract infection (UTI) in children. The objectives of this study were to (1) implement an evidence-based diagnostic guideline on UTI and evaluate determinants of successful implementation, and (2) determine compliance to and impact of the guideline in febrile, non-toilet trained children at the emergency department (ED). We performed a prospective cross-sectional observational study, with observations before and after implementation. Children aged 1 month to 2 years, presenting at the ED with unexplained fever (temperature above 38.5 °C), were included. We excluded children with a chronic underlying disease. Primary outcome measure was compliance to the standardized diagnostic strategy and determinants influencing compliance. Secondary outcome parameters included the following: number of used dipsticks, contaminated cultures, number of genuine UTI, frequency of prescribed antibiotic treatment, and hospitalization. The pre-intervention group {169 children (male 60.4 %, median age 1.0 [range 0.1-2.0])} was compared with the post-intervention group {150 children (male 54.7 %, median age 1.0 [range 0.1-1.9])}. In 42 patients (24.9 %), there was compliance to local guidelines before implementation, compared with 70 (46.7 %) after implementation (p-value < 0.001). Improvement in compliance after implementation was higher in patients 3-24 months and outside the office hours (p < 0.001). Implementation of a guideline for diagnosing UTI in febrile children at the ED has led to a significantly better compliance, especially in children aged 3-24 months. However, this study also underlines the need for a well-defined implementation strategy after launching an (inter)national guideline, taking determinants influencing implementation into account.