Most ERs Not Fully Prepared for Pediatric Patients

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Just half of the hospitals surveyed had so-called laryngeal mask airways on hand for children. The masks, equipped with tubes, allow patients to breathe when their airway may be obstructed.

The study authors noted that the survey response rate was low and pointed out that hospitals that did respond tended to deal with higher numbers of pediatric patients. So, the authors wrote, it's possible that emergency rooms as a whole may be doing a worse job of following the guidelines.

The authors add that "much work is left to be done to improve pediatric preparedness of [emergency rooms]."

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The American College of Emergency Physicians was quick to respond to the 6 percent statistic, which it called "misleading."

In a statement released Monday, the group cited studies that "show 95 percent of children who come to emergency departments are treated successfully and released. This raises the question of whether the list of equipment is too extensive, since emergency departments use it as a guideline, and the universal good outcomes seem to indicate that physicians are making the necessary adjustments."

Sheehan also noted there are some caveats to the study. "In all fairness, many guidelines come out each year, so it is challenging to keep up with them all," she said.

Also, some hospitals may see comparably few young patients each day, and "it may be hard to devote limited resources to serving relatively few children," she added.

Still, she said, "we need to assure we can provide excellent emergency care for children in whatever type of emergency department they are seen."

Parents have their own role to play when it comes to emergency care, said Dr. James G. Linakis, a pediatric emergency physician at Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, R.I. "They should carefully evaluate what kind of emergency services are available to them. The time to do that is before their child needs an emergency department."

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