Commitment to Comfort QI Collaborative: Improving the treatment of children’s pain in Alberta’s emergency departments

Abstract

Background and Goal: Pediatric pain is often under-treated in emergency departments (EDs), which is known to cause short and long-term harm. A recent quality improvement collaborative (QIC) led by our team was successful in improving treatment of children's pain across 4 EDs in Calgary, Alberta. We then formed a new QIC among general EDs across the province of Alberta to improve treatment of children's presenting and procedural pain. Aims were to improve the proportion of children <12 years of age who receive topical anesthetic before needle procedures from 13% to 50%; and for children <17 years …