PICUBASICS: an on-line resource for the diagnosis and management of acute illness in children with chronic conditions and disabilities

Abstract

Children with disabilities and chronic conditions are more likely than their healthy peers to be admitted to emergency rooms, to be hospitalized, and to require pediatric intensive care. Although many of these admissions are attributable to disease burden, a significant percentage are unscheduled stays for an acute illness that is directly related to a known condition. Such admissions are foreseeable, and therefore may be avoidable. An understanding of typical patterns of events that lead to acute illness in children with chronic conditions might suggest strategies to prevent these illnesses or to minimize the severity of unpreventable illnesses when they occur. When viewed as a marker for avoidable morbidity, an "unanticipated" hospitalization of a child with a chronic condition or disability thus provides an important opportunity for health care quality improvement at the community level.