Only six percent of hospitals prepared for pediatric emergencies? The controversy and facts about the fearsome statistic. numerical data distribution

摘要

In its recent report on pediatric emergency care, a committee of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) cited a finding that only about 6% of hospitals have the "essential" supplies for pediatric emergencies.It was the first bulleted point in the introduction to the IOM report, and such alarming facts are red meat for mainstream media reporters. They didn't disappoint. Stories quoting the finding ran in newspapers in St. Paul, Austin, Augusta, GA, and Stockton, CA; aired on National Public Radio; and were distributed nationwide by the Associated Press and Knight-Ridder News Service.But the IOM statement-derived from a report published in February 2006 by Kimberly Middleton and Catherine Burt of the Centers for Disease Control-has been criticized as misleading and unfair by several prominent pediatric emergency physicians.