Parenteral Antibiotics Prior to Emergency Department Discharge for Children with UTI?

Outpatient management of urinary tract infection (UTI) has become standard of care for uncomplicated cases, and oral antibiotics have been shown to be as effective as parenteral antibiotics. Despite this, many children with uncomplicated UTI receive a dose of either intravenous or intramuscular antibiotics prior to emergency department (ED) discharge, presumably to prevent return ED visits and subsequent hospital admission due to persistent symptoms.

To assess the effect of a single dose of parenteral antibiotics before ED discharge on rates of ED revisits with admission, researchers analyzed a national administrative database of ED visits at pediatric medical centers from 2010 to 2016. They reviewed records for nearly 30,000 children aged 2…