Monitoring health care: children with bacteriuria.
A program which used a nurse clinician to monitor the health care received by children with bacteriuria is described. We identified 152 patients with significant bacteriuria (greater than or equal to 10(5) organisms/ml) by urine culture from 351 patients who either had symptoms suggestive of urinary tract infections or routine urinalysis during health care visits. Adequate health care was provided to 116 (76%) of the 152 patients and inadequate health care to 31 (24%) of these patients. A significant number of patients who received inadequate therapy (12 of 36, or 37%) compared to 8 (7%) of 116 patients who received adequate therapy failed to clear their bacteriuria (Chi-square = 17, p less than 0.001). Eight patients with recurrent bacteriuria despite adequate therapy were shown to have no urinary tract anomaly by radiography. The use of recurrence of UTI as a criterion for measuring adequacy of therapy and the uniqueness of the program are discussed.
D001437:Bacteriuria / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009720:Nurse Clinicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012008:Recurrence