Emergency Department Pediatric Readiness: A Trauma Center Quality Improvement Initiative

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Most pediatric patients present to general emergency departments, yet maintaining pediatric equipment, skilled staff, and resources remains a challenge for many hospitals. Pediatric readiness assessment is now a requirement for trauma center verification. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to assess the impact of a quality improvement initiative to improve emergency department pediatric readiness. METHODS: A pre- and poststudy design was used to evaluate a quality improvement initiative to improve the National Pediatric Readiness assessment survey results conducted at a Southwestern United States adult Level I trauma center from September 2022 to April 2023. The multicomponent initiative included implementing a pediatric emergency care coordinator, pediatric-specific policies and procedures, identifying pediatric-specific quality and performance indicators, and educating pediatric-specific staff. Study inclusion criteria were all patients younger than 18 years who presented to the emergency department. The primary outcome measure was the improvement in the weighted Pediatric Readiness Score. Secondary outcomes were throughput, nursing documentation of vital signs, and pain scores. RESULTS: A total of N = 2,356 patients met inclusion, of which n = 1,158 (49.2%) were in the preintervention group and n = 1,198 (50.8%) postintervention group. The weighted Pediatric Readiness Score improved by 45.4%. Transfers to a pediatric hospital increased from 4.1% to 8.6% (p = .016). Blood pressure documentation improved slightly from 88.3% to 88.6%. Pain score documentation decreased from 83.9% to 63.1% (p = .008). Pain medication and administration improved from 19.8% to 26.7% (p = .046). CONCLUSION: We found that participation in the quality improvement initiative was associated with emergency department pediatric readiness improvements.