Emergency Department Quality: An Analysis of Existing Pediatric Measures.

The article discusses the results of a study which examined existing performance measures that are pertinent to pediatric emergency care. A description of a survey of peer-reviewed literature, emergency department (ED) directors and Web sites of societies and organizations related to quality improvement is provided. The study showed that out of the 405 performance measures, about 50 percent were related to effectiveness and six percent to patient-centeredness. It concludes that performance measures are not apt to evaluate the quality of care.