• Hafez Mahmoud Bazaraa, Salma El Houchi, and Hanaa Ibrahim Rady.
• Pediatric Cairo University Mounira Children Hospital (Abou EL Reeshe), the Pediatric Department, Kasr El Aini Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. hmbazaraa@yahoo.com
• Pediatr Emerg Care. 2012 Feb 1;28(2):148-52.

BackgroundThe emergency department (ED) is an essential component of the medical service offered in any hospital. Yet, the published information about patients' profile and utilization of emergency services in both developing and developed countries is scarce.AimThis study aimed to characterize the presentation and outcome of patients visiting the ED of a university-based tertiary pediatric hospital.MethodsThis is a descriptive study reporting the profile of patients visiting the ED for 1 year.ResultsThe total number of patients visiting the hospital was 249,552, with a monthly average of 20,046 patients, including 3639 monthly ED visits. "Treat-and-release" cases represented 46.7% and infants represented the largest age group (44.4%). The main presentation was respiratory distress (24.4%) and wheezy chest (17.3%), followed by convulsions (15%) and then pallor (10.7%). Long-term illnesses were predominantly congenital heart diseases, cerebral palsy, chronic hemolytic anemia, and asthma. The overall mortality rate was 0.8%.ConclusionsAppropriate and ongoing data collection and analysis could guide more efficient utilization of pediatric emergency services to achieve better outcomes.

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