Journal of paediatrics and child health
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J Paediatr Child Health · May 2021
Positive impacts of a dedicated General Paediatrics "home" ward in a tertiary paediatric Australian hospital.
Whilst a centralised model of care intuitively makes sense and is advocated in other subspecialty areas of medicine, there is a paucity of supportive evidence for General Paediatrics. Following ward restructuring at our tertiary paediatric centre in preparation for the COVID-19 pandemic, a new dedicated General Paediatrics ward was established. We evaluated medical and nursing staff well-being, morale and perceived impacts on care after the ward's establishment. ⋯ Overwhelmingly positive responses from this study support a centralised or "home" ward model of care for General Paediatrics patients in a tertiary paediatric setting. Our findings may be relevant to General Paediatrics teams in other centres currently using multiple wards to manage their patients.
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J Paediatr Child Health · May 2021
Mental health presentations to the paediatric emergency department: A retrospective study.
To describe a cohort of patients aged 7-17 years presenting with mental health (MH) problems to an Australian tertiary paediatric emergency department (ED), in order to identify: (i) predictors of admission; and (ii) prolonged length of stay (LOS); (iii) reasons for ED presentation based on diagnosis and (iv) differences between major diagnostic groups. ⋯ Mental health presentations constitute a large proportion of ED presentations. Suicidal behaviour and self-harm account for half of them. We have identified patients at increased risk of admission and prolonged ED LOS.