The Bronchiolitis Follow-up Intervention Trial (BeneFIT)

Utah System of Higher Education (USHE)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Bronchiolitis

Treatments: Behavioral: As needed PCP follow-up; Behavioral: Scheduled PCP follow-up

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03354325

82296

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study evaluates the value of routine follow-up with a child's pediatrician after hospitalization for bronchiolitis. Parents of half of participants will be instructed to follow-up with the child's pediatrician regardless of symptom resolution, while the other half will be instructed to follow-up on an as-needed basis (only if the child worsens, doesn't improve, or other concerns develop).

Full description

Bronchiolitis is highly prevalent and burdensome among children less than 2 years of age. For this reason, many therapies have been tried by providers and studied by researchers. Unfortunately, interventions have largely been shown to be ineffective, prompting campaigns to reduce use of ineffective therapies. One commonly prescribed but thus far unstudied intervention often provided to children discharged after hospitalization for bronchiolitis is routine follow up with their pediatrician. Whether the costs and time spent for these visits are worthwhile depends on the extent to which the child and the child's parents benefit.

Enrollment: 304 patients

Sex: All

Ages: Under 2 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Children less than two years of age who are hospitalized with an attending physician diagnosis of bronchiolitis.

Exclusion criteria

• Chronic lung disease
• Complex or hemodynamically significant heart disease
• Immunodeficiency
• Neuromuscular disease
• Discharged home with medication for withdrawal
• Inpatient team believes the child should follow up with their PCP

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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304 participants in 2 patient groups

Scheduled PCP follow-up

Active Comparator group

Description:

Parents of children randomized to scheduled follow up will be instructed to follow up with their primary care physician (PCP) within 4 days of discharge regardless of improvement and/or symptom resolution. Research coordinators will verify that the child has a scheduled follow up appointment prior to discharge.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Scheduled PCP follow-up

As needed PCP follow-up

Experimental group

Description:

At the time of hospital discharge, parents will be instructed that the child does not need to automatically follow up with his/her primary care physician (PCP). Rather, the child should follow up on an as needed basis: if the child does not improve or if new concerns arise.

Treatment:

Behavioral: As needed PCP follow-up