title: Impact of follow-up calls from the pediatric emergency department on return visits within 72 hours: a randomized controlled trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We compare the rate of return to the emergency department (ED) within 72 hours between families of children receiving a follow-up telephone call by a non-health care provider asking about the child's well-being 12 hours after their visit to the ED and families not receiving a follow-up call.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a prospective, randomized study in which we conducted a follow-up call starting at 12 hours after discharge from the ED versus no call for follow-up. At 96 hours after discharge, we contacted all recruited families. We recorded the rate of return to the ED within 72 hours of discharge.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 371 families in the data analysis, 46% were in the study group, and 55.5% were male patients. Mean age was 5.7 years. The outcome measure was found to be in contrary to our hypothesis. We found return visits to the ED in 24 (14%) of the children in the study group compared with only 14 (7%) in the control group (P < 0.03). All other parameters were not statistically different between the groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Emergency departments practicing follow-up calls by non-health care providers should consider a forecasted increase in return rates.
authors.affiliation: From the Pediatric Research in Emergency Therapeutics (PRETx) Program, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, Child and Family Research Institute (CFRI), and British Columbia Children's Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Ran D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Goldman
authors.forename: Julia J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cheyne
authors.forename: Blake
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jamieson
authors.forename: Bat Chen
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.forename: Gang Xi
authors.initials: GX
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Niranjan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kissoon
mesh_terms: D000359:Aftercare; D001955:British Columbia; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010351:Patient Discharge; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013689:Telephone