Research Overview

Dr. McBride’s research focuses on clinical effectiveness and systems-based approaches to patient safety and quality in caring for hospitalized children. Her most recent projects have aimed to develop best clinical practices for children hospitalized with high-risk pediatric conditions such as asthma, bronchiolitis and osteomyelitis. She receives both federal and private funding for her research. Her present work includes a federally funded, multi-centered study aimed at augmenting a national pediatric database (Pediatric Health Information System- PHIS) with real-time clinical data to improve the reliability of future clinical research. She currently leads a comparative effectiveness study using this augmented database to compare treatment failure rates for osteomyelitis in the era of increased community-acquired methicillin-resistant staph aureus (MRSA). In addition, she is part of a leadership team conducting a privately funded national stakeholder project to develop national consensus guidelines for pediatric hospital discharge planning.

Active Projects:

2010-2014 PHIS +: Comparative Effectiveness of Empiric Antibiotic Choices for Treatment of Osteomyelitis in the era of MRSA

Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ), R01 HS019862-01
Principal Investigator

This study uses the augmented Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) database to compare treatment failure rates among those patients hospitalized with osteomyelitis who are treated empirically with MRSA-covering antibiotics to those patients who do not receive initial antibiotics to cover MRSA.

Research Background

Dr. McBride is an Instructor in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.  She completed her pediatric residency training at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a Fellowship in Hospital Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital including the Program for Clinical Effectiveness at Harvard School of Public Health. She is a Director of Resident Education for Inpatient Medicine and attends on the inpatient pediatric wards at Boston Children’s Hospital while supervising Boston Combined Residency Program pediatric residents and Harvard medical students. She is a member of the teaching faculty for other resident curriculum courses.  Dr. McBride is also involved in a number of hospital-wide committees related to safety and quality initiatives.

Education

Undergraduate School

Haverford College
1994 Haverford PA

Medical School

Jefferson Medical College
1999 Philadelphia PA

Internship

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
2000 Philadelphia PA

Residency

Pediatrics Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
2002 Philadelphia PA

Publications

  1. A National Analysis of General Pediatric Inpatient Unit Closures and Openings, 2011-2018. Hosp Pediatr. 2024 Nov 01; 14(11):899-908. View Abstract
  2. Comparing the Kids' Inpatient Database and National Inpatient Sample for Pediatric Research. Acad Pediatr. 2024 04; 24(3):503-505. View Abstract
  3. A pediatric hospital-wide asthma severity score: Reliability and effectiveness. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2022 05; 57(5):1223-1228. View Abstract
  4. Validation of the Hospital Asthma Severity Score (HASS) in children ages 2-18 years old. J Asthma. 2022 Feb; 59(2):315-324. View Abstract
  5. Comparison of Empiric Antibiotics for Acute Osteomyelitis in Children. Hosp Pediatr. 2018 05; 8(5):280-287. View Abstract
  6. Nursing-led Home Visits Post-hospitalization for Children with Medical Complexity. J Pediatr Nurs. 2017 May - Jun; 34:10-16. View Abstract
  7. A framework of pediatric hospital discharge care informed by legislation, research, and practice. JAMA Pediatr. 2014 Oct; 168(10):955-62; quiz 965-6. View Abstract
  8. Changes in cardiac output and stroke volume as measured by non-invasive CO monitoring in infants with RSV bronchiolitis. J Clin Monit Comput. 2012 Jun; 26(3):197-205. View Abstract
  9. Management of parapneumonic effusions in pediatrics: current practice. J Hosp Med. 2008 May; 3(3):263-70. View Abstract
  10. Preventable adverse events in infants hospitalized with bronchiolitis. Pediatrics. 2005 Sep; 116(3):603-8. View Abstract
  11. Office laboratory procedures, office economics, parenting and parent education, and urinary tract infection. Curr Opin Pediatr. 2003 Dec; 15(6):641-9. View Abstract

Contact Sarah McBride