1. Review of pediatric emergency care and the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Author
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Foster AA, Walls TA, Alade KH, Brown K, Gausche-Hill M, Lin SD, Rose EA, Ruttan T, Shahid S, Sorrentino A, Stoner MJ, Waseem M, and Saidinejad M
- Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic posed new challenges in health care delivery for patients of all ages. These included inadequate personal protective equipment, workforce shortages, and unknowns related to a novel virus. Children have been uniquely impacted by COVID-19, both from the system of care and socially. In the initial surges of COVID-19, a decrease in pediatric emergency department (ED) volume and a concomitant increase in critically ill adult patients resulted in re-deployment of pediatric workforce to care for adult patients. Later in the pandemic, a surge in the number of critically ill children was attributed to multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. This was an unexpected complication of COVID-19 and further challenged the health care system. This article reviews the impact of COVID-19 on the entire pediatric emergency care continuum, factors affecting ED care of children with COVID-19 infection, including availability of vaccines and therapeutics approved for children, and pediatric emergency medicine workforce innovations and/or strategies. Furthermore, it provides guidance to emergency preparedness for optimal delivery of care in future health-related crises., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians Open published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American College of Emergency Physicians.)
- Published
- 2023
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