EDCareKids: Analysis of emergency pediatric care in Germany
Nationwide research project investigates the current challenges and potentials of care for acutely ill children and adolescents
The working group for register and care research at the University Clinic for Trauma Surgery at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg is launching the EDCareKids research project to analyze emergency care for children in Germany. The aim is to examine and evaluate the current nationwide reality of care for acutely ill children and adolescents. On this basis, recommendations for action are to be developed in order to redesign care structures. The results could help to sustainably improve emergency care for children throughout Germany.
"Children and young people are among the most vulnerable groups in our society in terms of health and social issues," explains Dr. Susanne Drynda. She is a research associate at the University Clinic for Trauma Surgery in Magdeburg and heads the EDCareKids project, in which a total of eight German universities and hospitals are working together. The Institute of Social Medicine and Health Systems Research at the University of Magdeburg is providing support with its methodological expertise in the collection and analysis of data.According to Drynda, the treatment of acutely ill young people requires specialized and accessible care structures.Despite this urgency, there is currently no comprehensive data on the care situation of children and adolescents in various facilities such as children's and/or adult emergency rooms as well as children's or general emergency practices.
Photo: Dr. Susanne Drynda from Magdeburg University Hospital is leading the nationwide research project EDCareKids to analyze emergency care for children in Germany.Photographer: Sarah Kossmann
The EDCareKids project has set itself the goal of closing this gap."We want to identify the current weaknesses in emergency care for our target group and develop concrete measures to improve care," says Drynda. By analyzing data from children's emergency rooms, central emergency rooms and contract doctors' billing data for children's emergencies, the current challenges and potentials of children's emergency care are to be uncovered. To this end, hospitals across Germany involved in the emergency care of children and adolescents will also be surveyed. In addition, the parents and guardians of children in emergency departments will be interviewed in order to better understand and classify the reasons for their visit. With the help of a literature review and expert panels, diagnostic indicators for emergency care are then defined in order to develop an algorithm that enables an initial assessment of the acute care needs of young people.
EDCareKids partners are the universities of Kiel and Lübeck with the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, the medical faculties of the universities of Bielefeld and Magdeburg as well as the Klinikum der Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart gKAöR, the Klinikum der LMU München, the Klinikum Wolfsburg and the University Medical Center Aachen.The project is being funded by the Innovation Fund of the Joint Federal Committee with approximately 1.9 million euros over three years.
Further information can be found here.
Contact
Dr. rer. nat. Susanne Drynda, Project Manager EDCareKids, AG Register- und Versorgungsforschung in der Notfallmedizin, University Clinic for Trauma Surgery, Medical Faculty of Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Phone: +49 391 6728169,