title: Pediatric emergency departments.
abstract: Pediatric emergency departments were surveyed by mail to determine the following patient and physician characteristics: census, triage classification, and staffing characteristics. The average number of patient visits per department per year was 44,615 (SD +/- 15,650). Of these, the mean percentage triaged as emergent, urgent, and nonurgent was 14.6 (SD +/- 13.4%), 35.4 (SD +/- 13.1%), and 52.2 (SD +/- 8.7%), respectively. The average number of full-time attending physicians per department was five. Fifty-nine (91%) of the physicians were pediatric board certified, and five (7.6%) were emergency medicine board certified. Academic standing, salaries, clinical research requirements, teaching responsibilities, and average patient care hours were also reviewed. From these data, suggestions for the management of patient care, teaching, and clinical research are presented.
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003625:Data Collection; D004635:Emergency Medicine; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital; D010372:Pediatrics; D014218:Triage; D014481:United States; D000078329:Workforce