Missed diagnostic opportunities often involve multiple process breakdowns and can lead to serious avoidable patient harm. Based on a web-based survey of 1,594 emergency medicine physicians, missed diagnostic opportunities most frequently occur in children who present to the emergency department with undifferentiated symptoms (e.g., abdominal pain, fever, vomiting) and often involve issues related to the patient/parent-provider interaction, such as misinterpreting patient history or inadequate physical exam.

While adverse events (AE) in pediatric emergency departments are rare, the majority are considered preventable. This study reports on the proportion of pediatric patients experiencing an AE within 21 days of an emergency department visit, whether the AE may have been preventable, and the type of AE (e.g., management, diagnostic). Results show 3% of children experienced at least one AE, most of which were preventable.

Procedural sedation is more commonly used among pediatric patients compared to adult patients. In this prospective study across six emergency departments, researchers found that the occurrence of serious adverse events among children receiving sedation varied depending on the type of medication used.

… International journal of medical informatics … Int J Med Inform … This study describes the development and …

A panel of pediatric sedation experts imparts recommendations for standardizing terminology and reporting adverse event data for procedural sedation and analgesia.

The investigators analyzed records of pediatric patients receiving parenteral procedural sedation and analgesia to determine the likelihood of adverse events. They conclude that all patients receiving these drugs are at risk for adverse events.

This study introduced a family-based system for reporting adverse events and discovered a different lens into potential safety issues.