How Safe Are Our Pediatric Emergency Departments?

Summary

Patient safety is an internationally recognized health care priority. Canadian data suggests that about 8% of adults admitted to hospital experience unintended harm (or 'adverse events') from the health care provided during their hospital stay. On a national level, this represents almost 25,000 preventable deaths among hospitalized adults each year. The emergency department is recognized as a high-risk environment for adverse events but most patient safety research is not specific to the emergency department. As well, the vast majority of people treated in the emergency department are sent home after their visit; yet safety research focuses primarily on people who are admitted to hospital. Finally, although children have also been identified as particularly high risk for suffering adverse events, very little research has been done on how often these events occur among children who visit the emergency department. Our study will address this gap in our knowledge about patient safety and provide important information on the frequency, severity and preventability of adverse events occurring among children in the emergency department. This information will help us to improve the safety of emergency department care for all Canadian children.

Conditions

• Adverse Effects
• Adverse Drug Event

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Provincial Health Services Authority

  collaborator OTHER

• Stollery Children's Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• Alberta Children's Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• The Children's Hospital of Winnipeg

  collaborator OTHER

• London Health Sciences Centre

  collaborator OTHER

• The Hospital for Sick Children

  collaborator OTHER

• St. Justine's Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• Janeway Children's Health and Rehabilitation Centre

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Manitoba Institute of Child Health

  collaborator INDUSTRY

• Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

  collaborator OTHER

• Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Amy Plint, MD, MSc · Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario

• Lisa Calder, MD · Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Eligibility

Min Age

1 Day

Max Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2014-11-30

Primary Completion

2015-11-30

Completion

2017-03-31

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations