Presentation and analysis of work at the emergency department – of the University children’s Hospital Ljubljana

Abstract

Background: In the article we present and analyse work at paediatric emergency department (ED) –of the University Children’s Hospital Ljubljana. Methods: Between 21 April 2012 and 21 May 2012, we analysed the data which were simultaneously obtained during hospitalization of children at the hospital ED of the University Children’s Hospital Ljubljana. Data were collected via software ISPEK (Think Med, Marand), according to the admission and discharge records. For statistical analysis we used descriptive statistics of programme SPSS 16.0 for Windows (SPSS Inc., 2007). Results: We collected the data of 121 children, 51 (42.1 %) girls and 70 (57.9 %) boys at the mean age of 5.3 years (SD = 5.6 years), median 2.4 years. They were hospitalized on average for 1.7 days (SD = 0.9 day), median 2.0 days. 47.9 % children were hospitalized for less than 24 hours. The majority of patients were treated for pulmonary problems (32.4 %), neurological issues (18.2 %), infections (11.6 %), immunological problems (10.8 %), intoxications (10.7 %), gastroenterological problems (9.1 %), and diseases of the urinary tract (5.8 %). The majority of children (84.3 %) were discharged home with medical and health care instructions, while some (15.7 %) were transferred to other departments. Three children (2.5 %) needed intensive care. Conclusions: Since 2010, the paediatric emergency department of the University Children’s Hospital Ljubljana has functioned in compliance wtih the guidelines used in similar international tertiary centres. However, there is still room for improvement in organization and staffing.