Provider Communication and Fever Protocol for Children With Sickle Cell Disease in the Emergency Department

Objective We assessed whether prior communication between pediatric hematologists and emergency department (ED) providers reduced time to administration of parenteral antibiotics for children with sickle cell disease presenting with fever. Methods Patients 2 months to 21 years of age were retrospectively identified if they were followed up at our center's pediatric hematology clinic and presented to the pediatric ED with fever. Emergency department-hematology communication before patient arrival was ascertained by chart review. The primary outcome was time to administration of parenteral antibiotics after ED arrival, with 60 minutes being the recommended maximum. Results Forty-nine patients were included in the analysis. Prior communication occurred in 43% of cases, with a median time to antibiotic administration of 79 minutes in this group (interquartile range, 59-142), compared with 136 minutes for patients without prior communication (interquartile range, 105-181 minutes; P = 0.012). The groups did not differ in hospital length of stay at the index visit. Conclusions Advance communication between the pediatric hematologist and ED physician was associated with reduced time to antibiotic administration for febrile children with sickle cell disease. Further interventions should be explored to achieve timely antibiotics administration within 60 minutes of ED arrival.