Supporting decisions to increase the safe discharge of children with febrile illness from the emergency department: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

The use of clinical prediction models can improve discrimination between serious and self-limiting infections in children. The application of low-risk thresholds may help to rule out serious infections and discharge children from the ED without empirical antibiotics. A growing evidence base for prediction rules has so far failed to translate into validated rules to aid decision-making. Future work should evaluate decision rules in well designed impact studies, focusing on the need for hospital admission and antibiotic therapy.