Evaluation of Knowledge About Fever After Consultation in the Pediatric Emergency Department

Fever is a common symptom of viral or bacterial infection in pediatrics. Previous studies using both qualitative and quantitative methods have established that intervention with parents/legal guardians on fever management decreases their worry and anxiety related to their child's occurrence of a febrile episode, limits unwise use of antipyretic medication (Walsh, 2006; Walsh, 2008; Peetom, 2017), but also reduces the use of emergency room or telephone medical consultations (Peetom, 2017).

The majority of visits for febrile conditions in children over 3 months of age are avoidable and do not require emergency and/or hospital care. Mistaken beliefs and lack of knowledge about what to do in the event of a febrile episode lead parents to consult a hospital emergency room for their child, which can have an impact on emergency room overcrowding.

The proportion of emergency room visits for febrile conditions assessed by the Intake and Referral Nurse (IOR) as not requiring urgent care raises questions about parents'/legal guardians' knowledge of fever, its monitoring, and what to do during a febrile episode.

The aim of our study is to evaluate parents' knowledge of fever and the appropriate course of action during a febrile episode in a pediatric emergency department of a Parisian university hospital by comparing standard management practices with the knowledge provided by an information brochure.

Inclusion criteria

• Be of legal age
• Be the parent/legal guardian of a child aged between 3 months and 15 years,
• A child with a fever > 38°celsus on arrival at the emergency room (measured by electronic thermometer rectally for children under 2 years of age or axillary/oral for children over 2 years of age),
• Severity of care rating by the IOA grade 4 (non-emergency care)
• Parent affiliated to a social security system or entitled to it
• Parent under "AME" French social security system
• Parent informed and having signed the consent

Exclusion criteria

• Parent/legal guardian who does not speak or read French,
• Child with a pathology that does not allow for rectal temperature taking
• Parent/legal guardian with a visual impairment that prevents reading the information note and/or the information brochure.
• Parent / legal guardian under guardianship