Comparison of Critically Ill and Injured Children Transferred From Referring Hospitals Versus In-House Admissions

Abstract

On average, children admitted to a cohort of US PICUs from referring hospitals were more ill and required more intensive care resources than patients admitted to the same PICUs from within the institution. Hospital-level differences in PICU efficiency and severity of illness were highly variable. These data highlight the need for standardized PICU admission criteria to maximize hospital efficiency and suggest opportunities for earlier intervention and consultation by hospitals with PICU-level services to improve quality of care for critically ill children.