Prescription Antipyretics to Decrease Unscheduled Return Visits In A Pediatric Emergency Department

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are evaluating whether providing parents with a prescription for the correct weight-based doses of acetaminophen and ibuprofen reduces unscheduled return visits to the emergency department (ED) within one week for children evaluated for fever. This study focuses on children aged 6 to less than 36 months who are discharged from a pediatric ED. The goal is to understand if prescribing these common fever medicines affects return visits, patient satisfaction, and overall healthcare use. The study is a single-center, randomized controlled trial at a pediatric ED. Participants will be randomly assigned either to an intervention group that receives prescriptions for acetaminophen and ibuprofen with weight-based dosing or to a control group that receives standard printed discharge instructions including dosing information but no prescription. Both groups get the usual discharge education. The study involves 220 children in each group. After discharge, research staff will follow up by phone one week later to check if families made any unscheduled visits to the ED, urgent care, or clinics for similar complaints. They will also assess parental satisfaction with the care received. The main measure is whether an unscheduled return visit occurred within seven days. Secondary measures include total return visits, hospital admissions, and satisfaction levels. Caregivers will be informed about group assignment and asked for permission to continue using collected data for research.

Prescription Antipyretics to Decrease Unscheduled Return Visits In A Pediatric Emergency Department