Evaluation of febrile infants and young children in the Emergency Department
The Phyllis and Gabe Lewander Memorial Lectureship
The Evaluation of Febrile Infants and Young Children in the ED: 2015 and Beyond
Presented by
Nathan Kuppermann, MD, MPH
Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics
Bo Tomas Brofeldt Endowed Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine
University of California, Davis School of Medicine
About this Session:
Fever is a common presenting symptom to the emergency department in children younger than 3 years of age. Most children with fever without source will have a non-bacterial cause of fever, which will resolve without intervention. Some febrile children, however, will have occult serious bacterial infections (SBIs) such as bacteremia, urinary tract infections, or bacterial meningitis.
The clinical and laboratory evaluation of young febrile children has changed over the years due to evolving epidemiology, new vaccines, and new diagnostic technology. This impacts how we identify young febrile children with and without SBIs. We will review these in this talk.
Learning Objectives:
Attendees of this session will be able to:
- Understand the epidemiology of SBIs in young febrile children
- Describe the role and utility of the clinical examination
- Discuss the different screening laboratory tests