Pediatric observation in an emergency unit of a university hospital
Keywords:
Child, emergencies, Observation, Internment unitsAbstract
Objective
To characterize the pediatric population that needs to be observed in a pediatric emergency unit of a university hospital.
Methods
This is a descriptive retrospective study done from January to December 2004 with children aging from O to 14 years.
Results
A total of 1,998 patients were hospitalized (1 O. 0% of the patients seen), where 1, 177 (58.9%) were males, 1,260 (63. 1%) were under 5 years of age and 557 (27.9%) were under one year of age. Among the diseases presented by these children, respiratory diseases prevailed (32.3%), fo/lowed by outside causes (18.2%), gastrointestinal tract diseases (14.1%), neurological diseases (13.2%), poorly defined infectious conditions (9.3%), renal diseases (3.0%) and cardiac diseases (2.1 %). The hospitalizations were distribúted uniformly during the entire year (an average of 170 patientslmonth). About 90.0% of the children remained in the hospital for at least 24 hours. Most patients were from the city of Campinas (61.8%) who deliberately sought care (63.8%); 1.3% arrived by rescue service. Most (63.8%) were discharged after the observation period; 21.4% were transferred to a ward; 2. 6% needed intensive care unit and 8.4% were transferred to other hospitais.
Conclusion
Hospitalizations for observation are important, especially for children under 5 years of age and those with respiratory problems. Continuous improvement of this service is necessary because of its impact on admissions and hospital costs.
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References
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