Health services and clinicians can use these guidelines, clinical priorities, organisational models and additional resources to support the treatment of acute bronchiolitis in infants.
Acute bronchiolitis is a common viral chest infection that mainly affects infants under the age of one. It is most common in the autumn and winter. It causes small tubes in the lungs (bronchioles) to become narrowed by inflammation and mucus, leading to difficulty breathing and poor feeding. A small proportion of infants require treatment to help their breathing and feeding.
In 2019, the bronchiolitis initiative was added to the Leading Better Value Care (LBVC) program to accelerate value-based care in NSW, and ACI offered support to all NSW Health local health districts and specialty health networks to implement changes. The clinical aims of this initiative are to:
- reduce unwarranted clinical variation
- reduce unnecessary investigations and ineffective treatments.
Service guideline
The guideline used for the LBVC initiative was the former NSW Infants and Children - Acute Management of Bronchiolitis (GL2018_001). It provided evidence-based clinical direction in the acute management of bronchiolitis in infants.
View the current clinical guidance, aligning to the clinical aims of the initiative, on the Royal Children's Hospital website.
For clinicians and services
What to consider
Read a summary of the 4 clinical components of the renal supportive care initiative:
- Diagnosis
- Acute management
- Optimising health
- Working with families
How to improve
Explore options for different organisational models to tailor clinical services for your local requirements:
- Paediatric acute review service (non-admitted patient)
- Paediatric short stay service (admitted patient)
- Virtual health model
Case studies
- Dashboard tracking through the electronic medical record
- Paediatric acute review clinic (non-admitted patients)
Additional resources
- Observational Study: Trends Over Time in Use of Non recommended Tests and Treatments Since Publication of the American Academy of Pediatrics Bronchiolitis Guideline. JAMA Netw Open. 2021 Feb 1;4(2):e2037356. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.37356. PMID: 33587138; PMCID: PMC7885040
- Research: General paediatricians and value-based payments (PDF 1.1 MB)
- Monitoring and evaluation plan (PDF 851.4 KB)
- Bronchiolitis initiative 2019: Year in review (PDF 345.6 KB)
Contact us
Email the team at ACI-Paed@health.nsw.gov.au