TUESDAY, Nov. 5, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Raising all U.S. emergency departments to high levels of pediatric readiness would prevent more than one-quarter of deaths among children receiving emergency services, according to a study published online Nov. 1 in JAMA Network Open.
Craig D. Newgard, M.D., M.P.H., from the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, and colleagues estimated the state and national annual costs of raising all emergency departments to high pediatric readiness and the resulting number of pediatric lives that may be saved each year. The analysis included data from U.S. children (ages 0 to 17 years) receiving care in 4,840 U.S. emergency departments (2012 through 2022).
The researchers found that 17.4 percent of emergency departments (range, 2.9 to 100 percent by state) had high pediatric readiness. For all emergency departments to reach high pediatric readiness from current levels, it would cost $207.3 million (range, $0 to $11.84 per child by state). More than one-quarter (28.1 percent) of child deaths occurring annually after presentation were preventable through universal high emergency department pediatric readiness, with population-adjusted state estimates ranging from zero to 69 pediatric lives per year.
"These results suggest that raising all emergency departments to high pediatric readiness would potentially save thousands of pediatric lives each year, with modest financial investment," the authors write.
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