Project lead: Dr. Susanne Drynda - Notfallmedizin, Universitätsklinik für Unfallchirurgie, Medizinische Fakultät der Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg; apl. Prof. Dr. habil. Enno Swart - ISMG; Prof. Denis Martin Schewe - Pädiatrische Onkologie und Hämatologie Klinik und Poliklinik für Kinder- und Jugendmedizin Universitätsklinikum Carl Gustav Carus Dresden

Project member(s): Ruben Ulbrich M.A, Angela Ulrich M.A.

Funding: Innovationsausschuss beim Gemeinsamen Bundesausschuss; 01.01.2024 bis 31.12.2026

Children and adolescents are among the most vulnerable members of society in terms of health and social well-being. The treatment of acutely ill young people - paediatric emergency care - therefore places particular demands on medical staff and poses challenges in terms of infrastructure and available resources. Currently, there are no figures available on how many children are treated in different care settings across the country, such as paediatric and/or adult emergency departments, paediatric or general emergency departments.

The EDCareKids project team has set itself the task of reviewing and evaluating the current reality of care for acutely ill children and adolescents across the country. On this basis, they will develop recommendations for restructuring and sustainable improvement in this area. They are assessing the current care situation based on data from children's emergency departments, central emergency departments and billing data from panel doctors for paediatric emergencies. They are also surveying hospitals across the country that provide emergency care for children and adolescents, and looking at how well children's emergency departments are linked to inpatient emergency care for children. In the emergency departments, they interview the patients' guardians to find out, for example, why they did not go to the paediatrician or general practitioner, what the waiting times were, how satisfied they were with the organisation and medical treatment, and whether there are any suggestions for improvement, especially from the children's point of view. Based on a literature review and expert discussions, characteristic diagnostic markers for emergency care will be defined and an algorithm will be developed that allows an initial assessment of the acute care needs of young people under practical conditions. The project will be funded for three years with a total of approximately €1.9 million.

If successful, the findings will pave the way for a nationwide reorganization of emergency care for children, thus contributing to better care for acutely ill children and adolescents.