A Research Agenda to Advance Pediatric Emergency Care Through Enhanced Collaboration Across Emergency Departments

Abstract

This subcommittee consisting of emergency medicine, pediatric emergency medicine, and quality improvement (QI) experts, as well as a patient advocate, identified main outcome gaps in the care of children in the emergency departments (EDs) in the following areas: variations in pediatric care and outcomes, pediatric readiness, and gaps in knowledge translation. The goal for this session was to create a research agenda that facilitates collaboration and partnering of diverse stakeholders to develop a system of care across all ED settings with the aim of improving quality and increasing safe medical care for children. The following recommended research strategies emerged: explore the use of technology as well as collaborative networks for education, research, and advocacy to develop and implement patient care guidelines, pediatric knowledge generation and dissemination, and pediatric QI and prepare all EDs to care for the acutely ill and injured pediatric patients. In conclusion, collaboration between general EDs and academic pediatric centers on research, dissemination, and implementation of evidence into clinical practice is a solution to improving the quality of pediatric care across the continuum.

Association between emergency department pediatric readiness and transfer of noninjured children in small rural hospitals

“…In light of the risks of transfer and the policy‐driven efforts to improve pediatric readiness, 12 this study aims to determine the association between pediatric readiness and the odds of interfacility transfer among EDs in small rural hospitals. We hypothesized that among these EDs, noninjured patients who presented to an ED with a higher pediatric readiness score would have lower odds of transfer.…”

A novel program to enhance pediatric emergency medicine training in Thailand

“…Second, we heavily leveraged technology through an online learning management system to administer key elements of our course. In recent years there has been increasing recognition of the need to apply technology to develop collaborative networks to improve patient care in the emergency setting and beyond 36‐41 . In 2018 Barata et al 39 published the results of their consensus conference “Aligning the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Research Agenda to Reduce Health Outcome Gaps.” The authors recommended that technology and collaborative networks be utilized to generate and disseminate pediatric knowledge and prepare EDs to care for acutely ill and injured children.…”

“…In recent years there has been increasing recognition of the need to apply technology to develop collaborative networks to improve patient care in the emergency setting and beyond 36‐41 . In 2018 Barata et al 39 published the results of their consensus conference “Aligning the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Research Agenda to Reduce Health Outcome Gaps.” The authors recommended that technology and collaborative networks be utilized to generate and disseminate pediatric knowledge and prepare EDs to care for acutely ill and injured children. Klig et al, 40 in a consensus statement on advancing PEM education to promote high‐quality pediatric emergency care in all centers, wrote “asynchronous, web‐based e‐learning may ultimately prove a highly valuable tool to teach and assess PEM knowledge and clinical skills across a range of providers.” Utilizing technology for remote instruction will be all the more valuable as the distance between instructors and learners increases, as in international medical curricula such as ours.…”

“…In recent years there has been increasing recognition of the need to apply technology to develop collaborative networks to improve patient care in the emergency setting and beyond [36][37][38][39][40][41]. In 2018 Barata et al39 published the results of their consensus confer-…”