Four steps to improve treatment of kids in the ER

If children go to the emergency room, it’s typically in a community hospital.

But most community hospitals aren’t as prepared to treat kids as they should be, healthcare leaders say. Less than 1 in 5 community hospitals have high pediatric readiness, according to a study published by Jama Network Open in 2024. As many as 2,100 deaths each year could be prevented through higher readiness, researchers found.

Healthcare leaders say this is a national problem that puts children at risk. But it’s also a problem that can be solved.

• Read more: Lack of pediatric readiness in hospitals is ‘a national risk to children’

Several medical societies have put out new standards in pediatric readiness. The American Academy of Pediatrics published the new standards in January.

Here are four key recommendations to improve pediatric readiness in hospitals. The groups that developed the new standards emphasized that these are all steps that can be adopted at any hospital, so these aren’t all recommendations requiring millions of dollars.

First: Appoint a physician and a nurse as pediatric emergency care coordinators to promote better skills. 

Second: Promote multi-disciplinary education among all emergency staff in all phases of caring for kids in the emergency room.

Third: Ensure you have the right equipment and supplies to treat children in the emergency department, including a portable pediatric resuscitation cart.

Fourth: Adopt a triage system aimed at pediatric patients that can evaluate children and identify risks for clinical deterioration.

Hospitals can find more tools and resources at pediatricreadiness.org.

Healthcare leaders stress one last point: CEOs and hospital leadership need to make improving the treatment of children in the ER a top priority.

• Read more: Why kids wait months for specialty care