FE Project: Management of Febrile Infants

PhysicianLead: Dr.Ruan Vosloo

Bio

FE Project: Management of Febrile Infants

I am a General Paediatrician working across community practice, hospital paediatrics, and neonatal intensive care. Originally from South Africa, I moved with my husband to Canada in 2023 to practice in Kelowna. I’m passionate about improving paediatric care in under-resourced environments, with a focus on thoughtful resource use, efficiency, and consistency to ensure children receive the best possible care.
My research has explored critical care outcomes for children treated in adult ICU environments, poison-exposure patterns in children, and the causes of delays in neonatal surgical care for conditions such as spina bifida and abdominal wall defects.
Outside of medicine, I’ve made the shift from waterskiing on some crocodile-infested South African rivers to snow-skiing in Kelowna. Luckily, Kelowna offers a taste of both worlds (without the crocodiles). I share my life with my husband, and I carry a tattoo of our two dogs, Kara and Fritz, on my left arm.

Video

Goals

To obtain access to PCT testing at KGH and thereby standardize risk stratification by endorsing the use of one protocol (with the option of PECARN or Step-by-step), and thereby limiting variations in practice, to ultimately improve the quality of service.

outcome:

  1. 
Standardize the management of this group of patients as there is currently wide variety of practice BY
  2. Gaining access to PCT testing at our site AND
  3. Ensuring appropriate use of other tests already available, according to a standard protocol
  4. Standard protocol use improves communication between clinicians (especially Paediatricians and Emergency Physicians)
  5. Ultimately, decreasing unnecessary admissions to hospital and overuse of invasive testing

Desired Outcomes

  1. Standardize the management of this group of patients as there is currently a wide variety of practice BY
  2. Gaining access to PCT testing at our site AND
  3. Ensure appropriate use of other tests already available, according to a standard protocol
  4. Standard protocol use improves communication between clinicians (especially Paediatricians and Emergency Physicians)
  5. Ultimately, decreasing unnecessary admissions to the hospital and overuse of invasive testing

Milestones

  1. The PCT test will hopefully be available at our facility in November (PCT logistics)
  2. An order set (ED Panel) for the ED has been created (name to be confirmed) to facilitate standard ordering of testing (PPO formulation)
  3. Pre-printed order set has been completed and is awaiting approval by the Network (as local hospital-specific order sets are no longer used)

Next planned Milestones 

– Approval and implementation of the order set
– Clinical staff engagement and trouble-shooting sessions to ensure engagement – this will require in-service session(s) by me and nurse educators with clinical staff. To ensure buy-in, sessional funding for Physicians is included in this budget
– Monitoring of use with data analytics team