This study is embedded in the MOFICHE study (Management and Outcome of Fever in children in Europe), which is part of the European Union-funded PERFORM project (Personalised Risk assessment in Febrile illness to Optimise Real-life Management) (GA:668303, www.perform2020.eu ) (online supplemenatary appendix 1 ). MOFICHE collects information regarding patient characteristics, resource use (diagnostic tests, antibiotic prescription and hospitalisation) and outcome in febrile children.
An electronic questionnaire (online supplementary appendix 2 ) was sent by email to the principal investigator of each participating centre, which were 11 European hospitals in eight countries: Austria, Germany, Greece, Latvia, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain and the UK. The questionnaire was filled in by the principal investigator in collaboration with the head of the (paediatric) ED or one of the main consultants responsible for the care of febrile children at the ED.
The questionnaire was based on the article by Mintegi et al10 (link) on organisation of paediatric emergency care and was further developed by the MOFICHE research team, consisting of a team of experts with a background in paediatrics, epidemiology, paediatric emergency care, paediatric infectious diseases and health economics. We gathered information on factors influencing case mix as well as resource use.
We focused on local ED quality indicators, regional systems of care and local factors influencing resource use based on Medford-Davis et al1 (link) classification of value-based emergency care.1 (link)
The questionnaire was created with Google Forms. Questions consisted of multiple-choice or multiple-option questions, yes/no questions, 5-point Likert-scale questions and open questions.
All analyses were descriptive and performed with SPSS V.21 software. We analysed the correlation between the different setting characteristics using Pearson correlation coefficient.
An electronic questionnaire (
The questionnaire was based on the article by Mintegi et al10 (link) on organisation of paediatric emergency care and was further developed by the MOFICHE research team, consisting of a team of experts with a background in paediatrics, epidemiology, paediatric emergency care, paediatric infectious diseases and health economics. We gathered information on factors influencing case mix as well as resource use.
We focused on local ED quality indicators, regional systems of care and local factors influencing resource use based on Medford-Davis et al1 (link) classification of value-based emergency care.1 (link)
The questionnaire was created with Google Forms. Questions consisted of multiple-choice or multiple-option questions, yes/no questions, 5-point Likert-scale questions and open questions.
All analyses were descriptive and performed with SPSS V.21 software. We analysed the correlation between the different setting characteristics using Pearson correlation coefficient.
