Consensus-driven model to establish paediatric emergency care measures for low-volume emergency departments

[摘要] Engagement in quality improvement (QI)work is essential to ensuring emergencydepartments (EDs) are meeting the needs ofall patient populations. In the USA, childrenrepresent approximately 27% (35 million)of all ED visits.1 Over 50% (18 million) ofthese children are seen in EDs that see fewerthan 10000 paediatric patients per year, withonly 7% of children seen in extremely highvolume EDs (>50000 paediatric patients peryear).1 Among the 5000 EDs in the USA, 39%see fewer than 5 children per day, 30% see5–14 children per day and 17% see 15–25children per day.2 In the absence of repetitive performance and measurement, as seenin high-volume centres (greater than 10000paediatric visits annually), it may be difficult to assess the quality of care processes.3In the USA, less than 50% of EDs report theinclusion of paediatric-specific elements in adepartment-wide QI plan.2 The aim of thismanuscript is to identify a series of paediatricemergency care quality measures that wouldbe valuable for low-volume EDs (<10000paediatric patients per year).

[学科分类] 药学

[关键词] Quality improvement;Quality measurement;Emergency department;Paediatrics;Healthcare quality improvement