• Alexandra H Baker, Lois K Lee, Brian E Sard, and Sarita Chung.
• Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA; Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Boston, MA; Department of Pediatrics, St. Luke's Hospital, New Bedford, MA. Electronic address: alexandra.baker@childrens.harvard.edu.
• Ann Emerg Med. 2024 Jun 1; 83 (6): 568575568-575.

AbstractMost children in the United States present to community hospitals for emergency department (ED) care. Those who are acutely ill and require critical care are stabilized and transferred to a tertiary pediatric hospital with intensive care capabilities. During the fall of 2022 "tripledemic," with a marked increase in viral burden, there was a nationwide surge in pediatric ED patient volume. This caused ED crowding and decreased availability of pediatric hospital intensive care beds across the United States. As a result, there was an inability to transfer patients who were critically ill out, and the need for prolonged management increased at the community hospital level. We describe the experience of a Massachusetts community ED during this surge, including the large influx in pediatric patients, the increase in those requiring critical care, and the total number of critical care hours as compared with the same time period (September to December) in 2021. To combat these challenges, the pediatric ED leadership applied a disaster management framework based on the 4 S's of space, staff, stuff, and structure. We worked collaboratively with general emergency medicine leadership, nursing, respiratory therapy, pharmacy, local clinicians, our regional health care coalition, and emergency medical services (EMS) to create and implement the pediatric surge strategy. Here, we present the disaster framework strategy, the interventions employed, and the barriers and facilitators for implementation in our community hospital setting, which could be applied to other community hospital facing similar challenges.Copyright © 2024 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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