Consensus guidelines on evaluation and management of the febrile child presenting to the emergency department in India

Justification

India, home to almost 1.5 billion people, is in need of a country-specific, evidence-based, consensus approach for the emergency department (ED) evaluation and management of the febrile child.

Process

We held two consensus meetings, performed an exhaustive literature review, and held ongoing web-based discussions to arrive at a formal consensus on the proposed evaluation and management algorithm. The first meeting was held in Delhi in October 2015, under the auspices of Pediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) Section of Academic College of Emergency Experts in India (ACEE-INDIA); and the second meeting was conducted at Pune during Emergency Medical Pediatrics and Recent Trends (EMPART 2016) in March 2016. The second meeting was followed with futher e-mail-based discussions to arrive at a formal consensus on the proposed algorithm.

Objective

To develop an algorithmic approach for the evaluation and management of the febrile child that can be easily applied in the context of emergency care and modified based on local epidemiology and practice standards.

Recommendations

We created an algorithm that can assist the clinician in the evaluation and management of the febrile child presenting to the ED, contextualized to health care in India. This guideline includes the following key components: triage and the timely assessment; evaluation; and patient disposition from the ED. We urge the development and creation of a robust data repository of minimal standard data elements. This would provide a systematic measurement of the care processes and patient outcomes, and a better understanding of various etiologies of febrile illnesses in India; both of which can be used to further modify the proposed approach and algorithm.