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![]() More Work Needed to Ensure U.S. Hospitals Equipped and Staffed to Handle Pediatric Emergency Patients For Immediate Release: February 28, 2006 Contact: CDC
National Center for Health Statistics Press Office (301) 458-4800
Availability of Pediatric Services and Equipment in
Emergency Departments: United States, 2002-03.
Advance Data 367. 16 pp. (PHS) 2006-1250. Although the majority of children who need emergency medical care are brought to hospitals that have appropriate emergency care specialists and equipment, a significant number are treated at facilities that lack the recommended pediatric equipment and a fully-trained staff, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Children account for about 30 million visits a year to hospital emergency departments. “We are pleased to find that the hospitals that see the majority of these young patients are the best prepared, but we also believe other hospitals would benefit from strengthening their capacity,” said Kimberly Middleton, a health scientist at CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics and the report’s lead author. The survey, conducted in 2002-03, found the vast majority of children who need emergency care are brought to hospitals that see more than 10,000 pediatric patients each year. The survey found that these larger hospitals are more likely to have a pediatric ward, a pediatric intensive care unit and are also more likely to have a board-certified pediatric emergency physician on staff. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Emergency Physicians set new pediatric emergency guidelines in 2001 calling for more pediatric services, medical expertise and supplies and equipment that are small enough for children. The guidelines followed a 1998 study of hospital emergency services for children conducted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which found that emergency and critical care of infants and children varied widely in different regions of the country and by different types of hospitals. To learn how well hospitals were able to implement the 2001 guidelines, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal and Child Health Bureau arranged for questions to be added to CDC’s National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey in 2002-03 to measure hospital preparedness for pediatric emergencies. Findings of the 2002-03 survey:
The National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey conducted by CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics gathers detailed data from a sample of the Nation’s emergency departments. More information about hospital preparedness for pediatric emergencies will be gathered in the 2006 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, which will include a larger number of children’s hospitals. ### DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
This page last reviewed
October 06, 2006
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