The Time Is Now: Uncovering the Value of Pediatric Readiness in Emergency Departments

* Abbreviations: ED — : emergency department QI — : quality improvement STEMI — : ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction More than 80% of families depend on community, rural, and remote emergency departments (EDs) to care for their children who are sick and injured.1 In the great majority of cases, similar to in adult cases, a child’s straightforward illness or injury is easily managed, and the child is discharged from the hospital to his or her family.2 However, unlike adults, when a child presents with a critical illness or injury, most EDs are unprepared to quickly stabilize that child. In this issue of Pediatrics , Ames et al3 evaluate the potential impact of this gap in the study “Emergency Department Pediatric Readiness and Mortality in Critically Ill Children.” On the basis of a national self-assessment of pediatric readiness, EDs commonly lack ≥1 critical elements, including pediatric patient safety and clinical care policies, quality improvement (QI) processes to monitor pediatric emergency care delivery, oversight to ensure that pediatric needs are met and integrated into all aspects of emergency care, and maintenance of pediatric competencies.1,4–6 The National Pediatric Readiness Project, a national QI collaborative formed … Address correspondence to Katherine E. Remick, MD, Department of Emergency Medicine, Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas, 4900 Mueller Blvd, Austin, TX 78723. E-mail: kate.remick{at}gmail.com