Pediatric emergency care in a failing economy.

摘要

In the ongoing effort to address the needs of children within the U healthcare system, the availability of widespread, standardized, quality pediatric emergency care is currently an unrealized goal. Although pediatric cases represent approximately one-quarter of all the visits to U emergency departments (EDs), many remain poorly equipped to deal with children [1,2]. Unfunded mandates to improve the quality and availability of emergency care for children have faltered in the nation's overburdened emergency departments - long before the U and worldwide economies began to spiral downward [2,3].