Evaluation of a Nurse Pediatric Emergency Care Coordinator–Facilitated Program on Pediatric Readiness and Process of Care in Community Emergency Departments After Collaboration With a Pediatric Academic Medical Center

Abstract

Each year, more than 30 million ill and injured children are cared for in 5,000 emergency departments in the United States, of which most children access care in 1 of 4,500 community emergency departments (CEDs) that are not solely prepared to care for children.1,2 These CEDs vary in terms of the total volume of pediatric patients where many of them care for fewer than 5 children a day. In 2006, the Institute of Medicine described pediatric emergency care in the US as “uneven.”3 In response to this report, key stakeholders—including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Emergency Physicians, and the Emergency Nurses Association—developed Joint Policy Statement Guidelines (JPSG) for the emergency care of children.