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30 Characteristics of Infant Emergency Department Utilization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 April 2024

Mary Beth Howard
Affiliation:
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Leticia M. Ryan
Affiliation:
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics
Oluwakemi Badaki-Makun
Affiliation:
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics
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Abstract

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OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Frequent utilizers of emergency departments (ED) make up a substantial share of overall ED use. Within pediatric emergency departments (PED), infants represent an age group that make up a disproportionate share of PED visits. The objective was to compare patterns of PED use for children less than 1 year of age by visit frequency and resource utilization. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Retrospective cohort study of infants less than 1 year presenting to 5 EDs in one health system over a 5-year period, with a 365-day follow-up after each index visit. Patient characteristics (age, sex, race/ethnicity, presence of chronic condition) and visit characteristics (arrival day/time, acuity level, disposition, testing (labs and radiographs, medications) were assessed. The relationship between patient and visit characteristics with utilization and repeat visits was assessed using multivariable regression. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: A total of 20,620 patients with 33,127 ED visits during study timeframe. Thirty three percent (n=6842) had more than one visit in a year; 3964 (19.2%) had two visits, 1542 (7.5%) had three visits, and 1336 (6.5%) had 4 or more visits. Across all visits, over half (52%) were low acuity. The most common diagnoses were respiratory diseases (27%), systemic states (including fever, viral illness, 23%), and gastrointestinal diseases (15%). These diagnoses remained the most common for those with 1, 2, 3, and ≥ 4 ED visits during follow up. As ED visit frequency increased, there was an increase in percentage of children who were older, non-Hispanic Black, and triaged as low acuity. Infants with ≥ 4 ED visits were more likely to be without a chronic condition, have no medications or testing ordered, and be discharged. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: There was high ED utilization for those without chronic conditions who were least likely to need medications, testing, and hospital admission. With increasing attention paid to high-utilization in healthcare, it is important to assess why infants use the ED at high rates and develop systems to improve high value care while decreasing resource burden.

Type
Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. The Association for Clinical and Translational Science