Publication Date

4-2023

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Abstract

Background: Phlebotomy is an invasive procedure associated with pain and iatrogenic anemia. Minimizing phlebotomy for hospitalized children could improve their experience and avoid unnecessary tests. Objective: To describe: 1) the prevalence of phlebotomy-free days among children hospitalized with common conditions and 2) the association of phlebotomy-free days with clinical outcomes. Design/Methods: We performed a multicenter, cross-sectional study of children hospitalized 1/1/2018 to 12/31/2019 with an All Patient Refined Diagnosis Related Group (APR-DRG) for common infections across 38 hospitals in the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) database. We excluded patients with length of stay (LOS) < 2 days, medical complexity, interhospital transfers, and those receiving intensive care. We defined phlebotomy-free days (PFDs) as hospital days with no laboratory blood testing and measured the proportion of PFDs per hospital day (PFD ratio) for each condition and hospital. Hospitals were grouped into low, moderate and high average PFD ratios. Adjusted outcomes were compared across groups and included LOS, costs, and all-cause 14- and 30-day readmission rates. Results: We identified 126,135 patient encounters (Table 1). Bronchiolitis (N=31,302), non-bacterial gastroenteritis (N=20,430), and pneumonia (N=16,031) accounted for the greatest number of hospital days. Bronchiolitis (0.78) and pneumonia (0.54) had the highest overall PFD ratios, while bone and joint infections (0.28) and non-bacterial gastroenteritis (0.30) had the lowest overall PFD ratios. There was wide variation across hospitals and conditions in PFD ratios (Figure 1). We identified 8 hospitals with low, 21 with moderate, and 9 with high PFD ratios (Figure 1 and Table 1). There were statistically significant but small differences in the distributions of age, payer, and H-RISK among patients in the low, moderate, and high PFD hospital groups (Table 1). There were no differences in adjusted outcomes across low, moderate, and high PFD hospital groups (Table 2). Conclusion(s): Among children hospitalized with common infectious conditions, there was variation across conditions and hospitals in the proportion of PFDs per hospital day. Hospitals with low, moderate and high ratios of PFDs had no differences in outcomes. Our data suggest at least some laboratory overuse and opportunities to improve the experience and care of children hospitalized with infections.

Disciplines

Pediatrics

Notes

Presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2023 Meeting; Washington, D.C.; April 27-May 1, 2023.

Phlebotomy-Free Days in Common Conditions Among Hospitalized Children and the Association with Clinical Outcomes

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