2023-11-24 18:05:32
by Health Editorial Staff
The preliminary results of the first national survey on pediatric emergencies in Italy have been released, showing the gap between the South-Islands and the North
There is a clear inequality between children from the North and those from the South in emergency assistance. This was revealed by the preliminary results of the first national survey on pediatric emergency-urgency in Italy, conducted by the Italian Society of Pediatric Emergency and Urgency Medicine (Simeup) in collaboration with the Italian Society of Pediatrics (Sip) and the Italian Society of Pediatrics Hospital (Sipo), presented at the XVII National Congress of Simeup. The survey involved 252 hospitals in 16 regions with the aim of verifying the extent to which interventions have been activated to strengthen pediatric emergencies according to the 2017 and 2019 State-Regions Agreements.
The quality of care provided in the emergency room and in some cases even the survival of a child who accesses it in critical conditions cannot depend on the place where one is lucky enough or unlucky to be born – states Stefania Zampogna, president of Simeup – all minors from 0 to 18 years old have the right to be treated by doctors trained in pediatric emergencies, in safe and equal conditions throughout the national territory. Today, unfortunately, we are witnessing the escape of doctors from emergency rooms throughout the country. Just think that in the last specialization competition a quarter of the advertised places were assigned. Backbreaking shifts, lower salaries than those of European colleagues, greater attractiveness of the territory are the causes of this vocational crisis. Added to which is the phenomenon of unquestionably growing attacks after Covid and which sees emergency room doctors as the most exposed, the easiest target of discomfort and dissatisfaction to hit.
The results, although partial, clearly show that in the South and in the Islands the guidelines on hospital triage which had foreseen the transition from 4 to 5 colors and spaces for children separated from those of adults to avoid psychological trauma are still not applied. There is also a lack of ad hoc rooms for potentially infectious pathologies and for cases of suspected abuse and mistreatment and training courses for triage nurses to reduce waiting times and immediately begin taking care of the minor, according to codified protocols which also include pain assessment and treatment. Also in the South, only 35% of hospitals have activated Brief Pediatric Observations (Obip) which concern cases in which the child must be kept under observation for a short time without the need for hospitalization. The delay in activating the Obip – underlines Zampogna – forces children and young people and their families to face unnecessarily prolonged hospitalization, and reduces the availability of beds in critical periods, such as the winter season. It is essential that the gap between the Regions is quickly corrected. And still the South remains penalized for the presence of beds in Pediatric Intensive Care which forces many pediatric patients to be hospitalized in adult wards without being able to count on specific skills, with the risk of having their prognosis worsen. Another aspect that generates inequalities in our country is that only 20% of pediatric emergency rooms and pediatric departments accommodate children up to 18 years of age; in many cases after the age of 14 you end up together with adults.
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November 24, 2023 (modified November 24, 2023 | 5:04 pm)
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