title: Is continuity of care preserved in children who utilize the pediatric emergency department?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Inner city families often use multiple sites for nonemergent medical care, including the pediatric emergency department. This practice raises concerns about continuity of care. The present study examined one aspect of continuity of care: Do children who receive care in a pediatric emergency department return to their primary care site so that appropriate follow up may be obtained?
  
  
  METHODS
  Over a 4-week period two groups of neighborhood health center children were studied: Those who sought care at the pediatric emergency department and those who were "walk-ins" at the health centers. All visits during the 4-week study period which resulted in a recommendation for the child to be seen within 6 weeks at the health centers were included in the analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During the study period there were 87 patient visits to the pediatric emergency department with a documented physician instruction to be seen at their health center within 6 weeks. In 66 (76%) of the cases, the patient was seen at one of the health centers during the 6 weeks following the pediatric emergency department visit. There were 146 "walk-in" visits to the health centers with a documented physician instruction to be seen again at the health centers during the 6 weeks following the walk-in visit. In 111 (76%) of the cases, the patient was seen during the 6-week period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study shows that revisit rates were comparable for the two groups. We conclude that the rate of compliance with follow-up recommendations is similar for those who utilized the pediatric emergency department versus those who used the primary care site.
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Policy and Management, School of Hygiene and Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Vivier
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Lewander
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Block
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Simon
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Alario
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Linakis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003151:Community Health Centers; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010372:Pediatrics; D011204:Poverty Areas; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012237:Rhode Island; D014505:Urban Population