Objective: To gain insight into how the acute care of critically ill children at general hospitals is organised, whether staff is sufficiently trained and whether the necessary materials and medications are present.
Design: Questionnaire combined with a site visit.
Method: Questionnaires were sent to all primarily involved specialists (emergency room specialists and paediatricians), and to the auxiliary anaesthetists and intensivists involved, at the nine general hospitals in Southeast Netherlands. Two researchers performed standardised interviews with the lead paediatricians on site and checked for materials and medication present in the emergency and paediatric departments.
Results: Of the 195 questionnaires sent, 97 (49.7%) were deemed suitable for analysis. The response from the primary specialists involved (77.6%) was more than twice that of the auxiliary specialists (31.9%). At 7 hospitals, verbal agreements on the organisation of acute care were maintained, 1 hospital had a written protocol, and 2 hospitals had a task force addressing this topic. One out of 5 respondents was unaware of the verbal agreements and 1 out of 3 mistakenly assumed that a protocol existed. Two out of 3 primary specialists involved were certified for Advanced Paediatric Life Support (APLS); 1 out of 13 of the auxiliary specialists had such a certificate. Scenario training was being conducted at 8 hospitals. A paediatric resuscitation cart was available at both the emergency and paediatric departments of 8 hospitals, 3 of which were fully stocked at both departments. Laryngeal mask airways and PEEP-valves (Positive End Expiratory Pressure) were lacking at 6 of the 9 hospitals. The medication stock was complete at all the hospitals.
Conclusion: The organisation of and training for the acute care of critically ill children and presence of materials - the aspects we investigated - need attention at all general hospitals evaluated. It appeared that many specialists are not APLS certified and written protocols concerning organisation and training were lacking. The establishment of a task force responsible for the acute care of children is one measure that could result in rapid improvement. Another measure could be the introduction of a standardised list of inventory needed for acute care.