Background: Bronchiolitis caused by the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the main reason for hospitalization in infants. Supportive care is the mainstay of treatment, and tests are restricted to a few indications. During 2015, our hospital bronchiolitis protocol (2015 HBP) was updated according to the latest practice guidelines.
Objective: The objective of this study was to assess implementation of the 2015 HBP and the clinical outcome of children aged ≤ 24 months with RSV bronchiolitis admitted to a pediatric ward.
Methods: We compared the use of treatments and tests, hospital length of stay (LOS), and oxygen requirements before implementation of the 2015 HBP (2014-2015 and 2015-2016 seasons) and after implementation (2016-2017 and 2017-2018 seasons).
Results: The study population comprised 251 children (44.90%) in the first period and 308 (55.10%) in the second (median age 99 days, interquartile range 44-233). After implementation of the 2015 HBP, a statistically significant reduction was found in the percentage of patients undergoing the following treatments or diagnostic tests: salbutamol, from 57.77 to 31.17% (p < 0.001); epinephrine, from 61.75 to 1.30% (p < 0.001); 3% hypertonic saline, from 70.12 to 6.82% (p < 0.001); antibiotics, from 33.07 to 23.05% (p = 0.008); and chest X-ray, from 43.82 to 31.17% (p = 0.001). No statistically significant reductions were observed in the use of corticosteroids and blood tests. Hospital LOS and oxygen requirements were similar in each period.
Conclusions: Appropriate implementation of the 2015 HBP in the pediatric ward improves the use of medication and chest X-ray without modifying clinical outcomes. However, further efforts are needed to reduce the use of salbutamol, corticosteroids, and blood tests.
© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.