Current practice and determinants of follow-up care for infection patients discharged from the ED

Patients who present to the emergency department (ED) with a suspected infection and are sent home after assessment and treatment, are often overlooked. Follow-up appointments may not be scheduled, and therefore necessary adjustments in treatment may not be made. However, addressing this issue is critical.

Culture results may show, for example, that antibiotics are not necessary after all, and a patient may be exposed to antibiotics unnecessarily. This is not only harmful to the patient because of potential side effects, but also contributes to the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance.

Aim

To better understand this problem, researchers will evaluate follow-up care of patients with urinary tract infections discharged from the ED in Dutch hospitals. Moreover, they will explore the determinants of adequate follow-up care based on interviews with stakeholders. The results of this study will form the basis for an implementation study on the design of a follow-up programme.

Expected results

After completion of this project, an in-depth problem analysis of the follow-up of patients with urinary tract infections after discharge from the ED in the Netherlands will be available. This will be the starting point for designing an implementation study, which focuses on developing and implementing a follow-up programme, considering the identified determinants.