Bronchiolitis

Bronchiolitis is an infection of the bronchioles, which are small air passages in the lungs. It is caused by a virus. The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the primary causes of bronchiolitis, especially in infants.

Because bronchiolitis can become a serious illness in infants—especially premature infants—Dayton Children’s works with community physician offices to immunize at-risk infants. This is done through the synagis clinic at Dayton Children’s. Success is measured by looking at the number of synagis doses and patients immunized

Dayton Children’s also measures the average length of stay for patients admitted with bronchiolitis and the number of patients who return to the hospital after being treated and discharged. Patients would return to the hospital if they weren’t sufficiently treated. Our low return rate demonstrates the effectiveness of the treatment protocol.

We have been very effective at quickly managing the illness and have had very few transfers to intensive care and very short lengths of hospitalization.

Category	2004-2005	2005-2006
Synagis doses/patients	995 doses/293 patients	934 doses/232 patients
Average length of stay	2 days (average length of critical care stay 4.0 days)	2 days (average length of critical care stay 4.2 days)
Returns	1% returned to the emergency department within 48 hours after discharge	1% returned to the emergency department within 48 hours after discharge