Study Finds Adoption of Certain Standards for Children's Care in Emergency Departments Saves Thousands of Lives Per Year

A new study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that “widespread adoption of standards designed to improve care for children in U.S. hospital emergency departments could save an estimated 2,143 lives each year.”

The standards, published by The National Pediatric Readiness Project, encompass “training for staff, coordination of health care, and the procedures and medical equipment needed to care for ill and injured children. According to the study, adopting the standards would range from no cost to $11.84 per child, depending on the state.”

Researchers analyzed “data on the readiness standards of 4,840 hospital emergency departments in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Their analysis included data on children ranging from birth to 17 years old who needed emergency services, hospitalization, transfer to another hospital or who had died in the emergency department.” 842 emergency departments in total (17%) had “high pediatric readiness.”

Based on the “cost of emergency department services, the researchers estimated that the annual cost for all U.S. emergency departments to reach high readiness was more than $207 million. The authors concluded that implementing the standards in all U.S. emergency departments may have prevented an estimated 2,143 (28.1%) of the 7,619 U.S. pediatric deaths that occur in emergency departments or following admission from emergency departments each year.”