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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Aug 1.
Published in final edited form as: BMJ Qual Saf. 2018 Jan 20;27(8):587–592. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2017-006899

Table 3.

Comparison of 6499 patients who had any urine testing in the ED before and after intervention

Study
Cohort*
Pre-Intervention
(Sep 1st to Oct 20th)
Post-Intervention
(Oct 21st to Nov 30th)
P-value
Patient Characteristics N=6499 N= 3711 N=2788
Age, median (IQR) 46 (30–62) 46 (29–62) 46 (30–62) 0.88
Race, n (%)
  White 2499 (38.5) 1453 (39.2) 1046 (37.5) Ref
  Black 3687 (56.7) 2086 (56.2) 1601 (57.4) 0.22
  Other 313 (4.8) 172 (4.6) 141 (5.1) 0.28
Sex, n (%)
  Male 2441 (37.6) 1406 (37.9) 1035 (37.1) 0.53
  Female 4058 (62.4) 2305 (62.1) 1753 (62.9) Ref
Discharge status, n (%)
  Admitted to hospital 2916 (44.9) 1625 (43.8) 1291 (46.3) 0.55
  Discharged to home from ED 3314 (51.0) 1931 (52.0) 1383 (49.9) 0.84
  Discharged to other facility/ Expired/AMA^ 269 (4.1) 155 (4.2) 114 (4.1) Ref
Urine Testing Practices
Urinalysis, n, (per 1000 ED visits) 6556 (285.7) 3744 (291.5) 2812 (278.4) 0.03
    Leukocyte esterase positive, n (%) 2553 (38.9) 1428 (38.1) 1125 (40.0) 0.08
Urine Microscopy, n, (per 1000 ED visits) 4408 (192.1) 2524 (196.5) 1813 (179.5) 0.001
Urine Microscopy Result (WBC/ hpf), n (%)
    ≤ 5 2540 (57.6) 1500 (59.4) 1040 (55.2) Ref
    >5 – 49 1209 (27.4) 675 (26.8) 534 (28.3) 0.06
    ≥50 659 (15.0) 349 (13.8) 310 (16.5) 0.005
Urine Cultures Performed, n, (per 1000 ED visits) 997 (43.4) 697 (54.3) 300 (29.7) <.0001
      Positive culture, n (%) 392 (39.3) 270 (38.7) 122 (40.7) 0.43
Catheterized cultures, n, (per 1000 ED visits) 49 (2.1) 22 (1.7) 27 (2.7) 0.0002
Isolated culture, n (%)** 25 (2.5) 16 (2.3) 9 (3.0) 0.51

ED: Emergency department; IQR: Inter quartile range; AMA: Against medical advice; WBC: White blood cells; hpf: High power field

*

Patient visits to ED whose urine was tested (≥ 1) either for dipstick, microscopy or culture at ED during the study period. Overall 22,948 patients visited ED during Sept 1 – Nov 30 2015, 12846 during Sep 1 to Oct 20 (pre-intervention) and 10102 during Oct 21 to Nov 30 (post-intervention)

^

other facility- 265, Expired -4; Pre-intervention: other facility-152, expired-3; Post-intervention: other facility-113, expired-1;

**

Isolated is defined as a urine culture performed without either a urinalysis or urine microscopy within 24 hours before or after the culture