The Cost of Hospital Admission: Brief Resolved Unexplained Events

Abstract

The modern health care system continues to expand at a meteoric rate with ever-increasing technological advancements. However, with these advancements come unsustainably rising costs and occasionally unintended, avoidable harm. In this article, we use a brief resolved unexplained event (BRUE) to illustrate how recent guidelines can help physicians practice value in this modern health care system. A BRUE is a common pediatric problem that is seen in ambulatory and emergency department settings. Infants presenting with a BRUE can be separated into low- and high-risk groups per recent guidelines. Most low-risk infants who present with a BRUE can be discharged home with anticipatory guidance, whereas high-risk infants should undergo further testing and admission to determine the cause of their event. [Pediatr Ann. 2017;46(7):e262-e264.].