IMPORTANCE: Subspecialty consultation is a frequent, consequential practice in the pediatric inpatient setting. Little is known about factors affecting consultation practices.

OBJECTIVES: To identify patient, physician, admission, and systems characteristics that are independently associated with subspecialty consultation among pediatric hospitalists at the patient-day level and to describe variation in consultation utilization among pediatric hospitalist physicians.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This retrospective cohort study of hospitalized children used electronic health record data from October 1, 2015, through December 31, 2020, combined with a cross-sectional physician survey completed between March 3 and April 11, 2021. The study was conducted at a freestanding quaternary children's hospital. Physician survey participants were active pediatric hospitalists. The patient cohort included children hospitalized with 1 of 15 common conditions, excluding patients with complex chronic conditions, intensive care unit stay, or 30-day readmission for the same condition. Data were analyzed from June 2021 to January 2023.

EXPOSURES: Patient (sex, age, race and ethnicity), admission (condition, insurance, year), physician (experience, anxiety due to uncertainty, gender), and systems (hospitalization day, day of week, inpatient team, and prior consultation) characteristics.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome was receipt of inpatient consultation on each patient-day. Risk-adjusted consultation rates, expressed as number of patient-days consulting per 100, were compared between physicians.

RESULTS: We evaluated 15 922 patient-days attributed to 92 surveyed physicians (68 [74%] women; 74 [80%] with ≥3 years' attending experience) caring for 7283 unique patients (3955 [54%] male patients; 3450 [47%] non-Hispanic Black and 2174 [30%] non-Hispanic White patients; median [IQR] age, 2.5 ([0.9-6.5] years). Odds of consultation were higher among patients with private insurance compared with those with Medicaid (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.19 [95% CI, 1.01-1.42]; P = .04) and physicians with 0 to 2 years of experience vs those with 3 to 10 years of experience (aOR, 1.42 [95% CI, 1.08-1.88]; P = .01). Hospitalist anxiety due to uncertainty was not associated with consultation. Among patient-days with at least 1 consultation, non-Hispanic White race and ethnicity was associated with higher odds of multiple consultations vs non-Hispanic Black race and ethnicity (aOR, 2.23 [95% CI, 1.20-4.13]; P = .01). Risk-adjusted physician consultation rates were 2.1 times higher in the top quartile of consultation use (mean [SD], 9.8 [2.0] patient-days consulting per 100) compared with the bottom quartile (mean [SD], 4.7 [0.8] patient-days consulting per 100; P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this cohort study, consultation use varied widely and was associated with patient, physician, and systems factors. These findings offer specific targets for improving value and equity in pediatric inpatient consultation.

<p><strong>BACKGROUND: </strong>Children routinely undergo inhalational induction of general anesthesia. Intravenous line placement typically occurs after induction of anesthesia and can be challenging, particularly in infants and young children.</p>

<p><strong>AIMS: </strong>We conducted a retrospective observational study to determine whether there was an association between clear liquid fasting time and the number of peripheral intravenous catheter insertion attempts in anesthetized children. The secondary aim was to identify factors associated with multiple attempts to insert intravenous lines.</p>

<p><strong>METHODS: </strong>After institutional research board approval, we retrieved a data set of all children between 0 months and 18 years who received general anesthesia at our hospital between January 1, 2016, and September 30, 2017. Data included age, gender, weight, race, ASA status, gestational age, number of peripheral intravenous catheter insertion attempts, any assistive device for insertion, and insertion site. Inclusion criteria were mask induction, ASA status 1 or 2, non-emergency, ambulatory surgical procedures and placement of a single intravenous line during the anesthetic.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>9,693 patients were included in the study. 8,869 patients required one insertion attempt and 824 underwent multiple insertion attempts. 50% of patients in the single insertion attempt group had clear liquid fasting time less than 6.9 hours compared to 51.8% of patients requiring multiple attempts. Logistic regression model adjusted for age, ASA status, gender and BMI did not find an association between duration of clear liquid fasting time and rate of multiple insertion attempts for intravenous catheters (OR 0.99, 95% CI 0.98-1.01, P = 0.47).</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>Clear liquid fasting time was not associated with multiple insertion attempts for intravenous line insertion in children receiving general anesthesia. Factors such as patient age, ethnicity, time of day of induction of anesthesia and American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status classification show a greater association with the risk of multiple intravenous line insertion attempts.</p>