Joyce Li1, Genie Roosevelt2, Kerry McCabe3, Jane Preotle4, Faria Pereira5, James K Takayesu6, John J Porter1, Michael Monuteaux1, Richard G Bachur1. 1. Division of Emergency Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. 2. Department of Emergency Medicine, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, Colorado; University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado. 3. Department of Emergency Medicine, Boston Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts; Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts. 4. Department of Emergency Medicine, Hasbro Children's Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island; Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. 5. Division of Emergency Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, Texas; Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. 6. Division of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Eighty-eight percent of pediatric emergency department (ED) visits occur in general EDs. Exposure to critically ill children during emergency medicine (EM) training has not been well described. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to characterize the critically ill pediatric EM case exposure among EM residents. METHODS: This is a secondary analysis of a multicenter retrospective review of pediatric patients (aged < 18 years) seen by the 2015 graduating resident physicians at four U.S. EM training programs. The per-resident exposure to Emergency Severity Index (ESI) Level 1 pediatric patients was measured. Resident-level counts of pediatric patients were measured; specific counts were classified by age and Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Network diagnostic categories. RESULTS: There were 31,552 children seen by 51 residents across all programs; 434 children (1.3%) had an ESI of 1. The median patient age was 8 years (interquartile range [IQR] 3-12 years). The median overall pediatric critical case exposure per resident was 6 (IQR 3-12 cases). The median trauma and medical exposure was 2 (IQR 0-3) and 3 (IQR 2-10), respectively. For 13 out of 20 diagnostic categories, at least 50% of residents did not see any critical care case in that category. Sixty-eight percent of residents saw 10 or fewer critically ill cases by the end of training. CONCLUSION: Pediatric critical care exposure during EM training is very limited. These findings underscore the importance of monitoring trainees' case experience to inform program-specific curricula and to develop strategies to increase exposure and resident entrustment, as well as further research in this area.
BACKGROUND: Eighty-eight percent of pediatric emergency department (ED) visits occur in general EDs. Exposure to critically ill children during emergency medicine (EM) training has not been well described. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to characterize the critically ill pediatric EM case exposure among EM residents. METHODS: This is a secondary analysis of a multicenter retrospective review of pediatric patients (aged < 18 years) seen by the 2015 graduating resident physicians at four U.S. EM training programs. The per-resident exposure to Emergency Severity Index (ESI) Level 1 pediatric patients was measured. Resident-level counts of pediatric patients were measured; specific counts were classified by age and Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Network diagnostic categories. RESULTS: There were 31,552 children seen by 51 residents across all programs; 434 children (1.3%) had an ESI of 1. The median patient age was 8 years (interquartile range [IQR] 3-12 years). The median overall pediatric critical case exposure per resident was 6 (IQR 3-12 cases). The median trauma and medical exposure was 2 (IQR 0-3) and 3 (IQR 2-10), respectively. For 13 out of 20 diagnostic categories, at least 50% of residents did not see any critical care case in that category. Sixty-eight percent of residents saw 10 or fewer critically ill cases by the end of training. CONCLUSION: Pediatric critical care exposure during EM training is very limited. These findings underscore the importance of monitoring trainees' case experience to inform program-specific curricula and to develop strategies to increase exposure and resident entrustment, as well as further research in this area.