A study of 1,061 hospitals recently published in JAMA Network Open offers a classification of 4 levels of pediatric clinical capability, based on the parameters of the services provided by the hospitals. The hope is that outcomes and care delivery can be compared in a way that is more of an “apples-to-apples” approach using the 4 pediatric hospital capability levels developed by the authors. For urgent care centers, such classifications could be handy for triaging immediate patient transfers when necessary. The authors assessed 26 functional capabilities from asthma hospitalization to organ transplant. More than 55% of hospitals studied were classified as level 4, the lowest-capability. At the high end, 4.5% of hospitals were categorized at the top as level 1, according to the authors.
It’s a start: While similar to trauma-center levels, pediatric capability levels could create stronger local cooperation with the acute care system, the authors say: “The levels that we propose are focused on medical, not trauma, capabilities because trauma designation processes are already robust.” They note that more verification is needed in the future for application of the suggested medical levels.
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