Evaluation of Knowledge About Fever After Consultation in the Pediatric Emergency Department (FEARVER)

Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris

Status: Completed

Conditions: Fever; Febrile Illness; Stress

Treatments: Behavioral: The Information brochure will be created on the basis of information given by the French pediatric network Courlygone and the French National Authority for Health.

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04925401

APHP210578

2021-A00643-38 (Other Identifier)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of an information brochure on parent / legal guardians' knowledge of what to do about their child's febrile episode after a pediatric emergency department visit.

Single-center randomized controlled trial.

Full description

Fever is a common symptom of viral or bacterial infection in pediatrics. Previous studies using both qualitative and quantitative methods have established that intervention with parents/legal guardians on fever management decreases their worry and anxiety related to their child's occurrence of a febrile episode, limits unwise use of antipyretic medication (Walsh, 2006; Walsh, 2008; Peetom, 2017), but also reduces the use of emergency room or telephone medical consultations (Peetom, 2017).

The majority of visits for febrile conditions in children over 3 months of age are avoidable and do not require emergency and/or hospital care. Mistaken beliefs and lack of knowledge about what to do in the event of a febrile episode lead parents to consult a hospital emergency room for their child, which can have an impact on emergency room overcrowding.

The proportion of emergency room visits for febrile conditions assessed by the Intake and Referral Nurse (IOR) as not requiring urgent care raises questions about parents'/legal guardians' knowledge of fever, its monitoring, and what to do during a febrile episode.

The aim of our study is to evaluate parents' knowledge of fever and the appropriate course of action during a febrile episode in a pediatric emergency department of a Parisian university hospital by comparing standard management practices with the knowledge provided by an information brochure.

Enrollment: 220 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Be of legal age
• Be the parent/legal guardian of a child aged between 3 months and 15 years,
• A child with a fever > 38°celsus on arrival at the emergency room (measured by electronic thermometer rectally for children under 2 years of age or axillary/oral for children over 2 years of age),
• Severity of care rating by the IOA grade 4 (non-emergency care)
• Parent affiliated to a social security system or entitled to it
• Parent under "AME" French social security system
• Parent informed and having signed the consent

Exclusion Criteria

• Parent/legal guardian who does not speak or read French,
• Child with a pathology that does not allow for rectal temperature taking
• Parent/legal guardian with a visual impairment that prevents reading the information note and/or the information brochure.
• Parent / legal guardian under guardianship

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

---

220 participants in 2 patient groups

Information brochure Arm

Experimental group

Description:

The experimental group will receive an information brochure on fever in children and how to deal with a febrile episode and usual medical management.

Treatment:

Behavioral: The Information brochure will be created on the basis of information given by the French pediatric network Courlygone and the French National Authority for Health.

Habitual care

No Intervention group

Description:

The control group will receive the usual medical management