1. Optimizing Care With a Standardized Management Protocol for Patients With Infantile Spasms.
- Author
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Fedak EM, Patel AD, Heyer GL, Wood EG, and Mytinger JR
- Subjects
- Anticonvulsants therapeutic use, Humans, Infant, Length of Stay, Practice Guidelines as Topic, Remission Induction, Retrospective Studies, Treatment Outcome, Disease Management, Spasms, Infantile therapy
- Abstract
The primary aim of this quality improvement initiative was to increase the number of patients receiving first-line therapy (adrenocorticotropic hormone, corticosteroids, vigabatrin) as the initial treatment for infantile spasms. We implemented a standardized management protocol for infantile spasms based on the best available data and expert consensus. To assess the impact of this intervention, we compared the 3-month remission rates between prestandardization (January 2009 to August 2012) and poststandardization (September 2012 to May 2014) cohorts. We found that the percentage of patients receiving first-line therapy as the initial treatment was 57% (31/54) in the prestandardization cohort and 100% (35/35) in the poststandardization cohort (P < .001). The rate of infantile spasms remission was higher poststandardization compared to prestandardization (78.8% vs 30.6%, P < .001). Management standardization led to all patients receiving first-line therapy as the initial treatment and was associated with a significantly improved rate of infantile spasms remission 3 months after diagnosis., (© The Author(s) 2014.)
- Published
- 2015
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