A Retrospective Report on Simple Febrile Seizure Management in a Pediatric Emergency Department

To determine whether pediatric emergency medicine physicians are compliant with the 9-year-old simple febrile seizure guideline created by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

A retrospective chart review of patients, ages 6 to 60 months, who presented to the emergency department between May 2011 and December 2019. Key variables abstracted were urine, blood, nasal viral swab, and radiographic results.

The retrospective cohort of 285 children met inclusion criteria. Among 285 children, 342 studies were performed with a median of 1.2 studies per patient. There were 77 urine cultures obtained with 6 bacterial pathogens. Nasal viral swabs were performed on 65 children with 9 positive results. Blood cultures were obtained for 28 children and none were positive. Chest radiographs were performed on 37 children with 4 showing pneumonia.

The study results reflect areas of opportunity to update guidelines with a focus to consider obtaining urine studies, viral sampling, and chest x-rays.