EDs treating fewer children have higher delayed diagnosis rates

Emergency departments seeing fewer children have higher rates of delayed diagnoses across 23 serious conditions, a study found. The authors call for tools to support timely diagnosis in EDs seeing fewer children. Published in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Journal of Patient Safety, the retrospective cohort study included nearly 59,000 children treated at 954 EDs in eight states with a first-time diagnosis of any of 23 serious conditions. Possible delayed diagnosis occurred in 15.8% of children. With each two-fold increase in the number of children seen, delay in diagnosis was 26.7% less common. The researchers collected data from January 2015 to December 2019. (AHRQ Journal of Patient Safety article, 2/28/24)