Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Multicenter Study
Multicenter Analysis of Transport Destinations For Pediatric Prehospital Patients.
Although all emergency departments (EDs) should be ready to treat children, some may have illnesses or injuries that require higher-level pediatric resources that are not available at all hospitals. There are no national guidelines for emergency medical services (EMS) providers about when to directly transport children to hospitals with higher-level pediatric resources, with the exception of severe trauma. Variability exists in EMS protocols about when children warrant transport to hospitals with higher-level pediatric care. ⋯ EMS providers commonly transport children to hospitals with higher-level pediatric resources. However, more than one-quarter of children with potentially severe injuries and illnesses are transported to general EDs.