ED Pediatric Readiness Is Associated with Mortality

Critically ill children have higher mortality at general emergency departments and hospitals that are unprepared for pediatric patients.

The National Pediatric Readiness Project (NPRP) demonstrated that many general emergency departments (EDs) are unprepared to care for pediatric patients, with the most common deficiencies being lack of ED policies and quality-improvement efforts dedicated to children and absence of a dedicated pediatric emergency care coordinator (NEJM JW Emerg Med Jul 2015 and JAMA Pediatr 2015; 169:527).

To examine the association between ED pediatric readiness and mortality in critically ill children, researchers retrospectively linked individual ED pediatric readiness scores from the NPRP with encounter-level data on ED visits from administrative databases. Roughly 20,500 visits to 426 hospitals by critically ill pediatric patients (age <18 years) were a…

Reviewing Author

Carolyn K. Holland, MD, MEd, FACEP, FAAP

Disclosures

EquityGeneral Electric

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesSociety for Academic Emergency Medicine (Program Committee Chief Resident Forum Subcommittee Chair); American College of Emergency Physicians (Education Committee member)

Carolyn K. Holland, MD, MEd, FACEP, FAAP

Disclosures

EquityGeneral Electric

ED Pediatric Readiness Is Associated with Mortality

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Reviewing Author