Making Improvements in the ED: Does ED Busyness Affect Time to Antibiotics in Febrile Pediatric Oncology Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department?

Objectives: Febrile neutropenic pediatric patients are at heightened risk for serious bacterial infections, and rapid antibiotic administration (in <60 minutes) improves survival. Our objectives were to reduce the time-to-antibiotic (TTA) administration and to evaluate the effect of overall emergency department (ED) busyness on TTA.

Methods: This study was a quality improvement initiative with retrospective chart review to reduce TTA in febrile children with underlying diagnosis of cancer or hematologic immunodeficiency who visited the pediatric ED.