Page 21 - Medical error, adverse event & near misses
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Paediatric Patients
Paediatric patients face four distinct issues that set them apart from the rest of the hospital population,
making it a high-risk environment for hospitalized children:
• Development. As children mature both mentally and physically, their needs for healthcare goods
and services change.
• Dependency. Hospitalized children are dependent on caregivers and parents to convey key
information and their care must be approved by parents or their surrogates during all encounters.
• Different epidemiology. Most hospitalized children require acute episodic care, not care for
chronic conditions as with adults.
• Demographics. Children are more likely to live in poverty and experience racial and ethnic
disparities in healthcare, and they are more dependent on public insurance
(Hughes & Blegen, 2008).
