Performance Times Analysis In Mild Head Trauma in the Pediatric Population Aged Between 2 And 14: Real-Life Process of a Level 2 Trauma Center

Background: Head injuries represent one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality in pediatric age. This pathology therefore represents one of the most frequent aspects of the activity of a ED. Exposure in this environment must be minimized because of the young age of the patients.

Objective: Evaluate above whether the adherence to the entire protocol derived from the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network keeps the time spent by patients in the emergency room limited.

Methods: We enrolled patients aged ≥2 years but ≤ 14 years who are consecutively referred to our emergency room from January 1st to December 31st 2018.

Results: We enrolled 452 patients aged 2 years or older. The average age was 6 years with a median of 5 years. 99.5% accessed the medical examination with a low priority code and required low intensity of care, 0.44% required high priority for the medical examination and the overall 0.22% required medium or high intensity of care. 98.9% were discharged and only 0.2% were admitted for observation in pediatrics. The remainder preferred home observation despite medical recommendations. None of the patients had an elevated (yellow or red) severity code at discharge. The average waiting times for the medical examination were 48 minutes with a median of 33 minutes. The overall hospital stay in the emergency room was on average 111 minutes with a median of 92 minutes. 1.99% of patients had a re-visit within the next day and a complex of 4.86% within 5 days. None of the patients had complications due to the fall at follow-up.

Conclusion: The application of this protocol in the pediatric population aged 2 years or over resulted in a reduced stay in the emergency room of these patients.