A Global Survey Snapshot from Emergency Physicians International Issue #9 – SOURCE // DISPATCHES
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1. UNITED STATES
“Midwest USA – In our region, pediatricians mainly run the pediatric emergency departments in the community with fellowship-trained attendings at the academic centers.”
-Benjamin Leacock
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2. MEXICO
“Fortunately, during recent years, most of the country has witnessed a major effort to improve the emergency care of pediatric victims. In the prehospital arena, the technicians have received special training and equipment to offer better care. In the hospitals they have specially designated areas for pediatric victims.”
-Carlos Arreola-Risa
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3. COSTA RICA
“Our emergency pediatric care is done by pediatricians. We do not have a pediatric emergency fellowship, but we have two pediatric emergency physicians. We are working to train fellows in pediatric emergency medicine.”
-Mario Umaña
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4. COLOMBIA
“The pediatric emergency department at La Misericordia Hospital (Bogota) is a quality hospital for children; technology and warmth define the service.”
-José Navarro
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5. ECUADOR
“Pediatric emergency care service is conducted by a cadre of physicians highly-trained in disciplines of resuscitation and trauma care.”
-Guillermo Perez Chagerben
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6. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
“Pediatric emergency care in the Dominican Republic is evolving. We are moving past having an on-call pediatrician in charge of the ER, to having emergency resident and full pediatrician coverage in the emergency room. We are aiming to have emergency physicians in the pediatric ER with a fellow in peds 24/7.”
-Pablo Smester
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7. BRAZIL
“Brazil has two emergency residency programs working with poor support. Unfortunately, the specialty is not recognized by the Brazilian board of specialities as an independent area. This is a major problem for the Brazilian Association of Emergency Medicine (Abramede), as it makes it almost impossible for the medical schools to open new programs. It also makes the area of emergency medicine less attractive as a career.”
-Leonardo Lucena Borges
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8. SWEDEN
“PEM is becoming a defined competency based on the European syllabus as well as the existing Swedish EM curriculum and international guidelines published this summer. University hospital peds ED is led by an EM specialist. As EM becomes a basic speciality, no special training program for PEM is available yet.”
-Pia Malmquist
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9. DENMARK
“Injuries and some of the surgical conditions go to the emergency department. Other pediatric patients go to the acute admission unit of the pediatric department.”
-Dan Brun Petersen
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10. UNITED KINGDOM
“PEM in England is quite good – better than adult EM. Hospitals tend to ensure good staffing and equipment of the pediatric section of their departments compared with the general ER. Although this is useful, there is still a struggle for subspecialty care due to the limited amount of tertiary centers and specialists.”
-Adan Atriham
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11. SPAIN
“I think it needs improvement because in some emergency rooms there are pediatricians but in others, family physicians or general practitioners. The children require a different kind of attention in the ED that is not always met.”
-Ana Navio
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12. Bosnia and Herzegovina
“In big cities there is rapid response to emergencies but in rural parts it takes a long time to get to a doctor. Serious treatment for children happens in university hospitals or general hospitals. I think there is a place for improvement in the promptness of treatment through more education and new equipment.”
-Gordana Vujic
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13. EGYPT
“The Emergency Medicine (EM) speciality in Egypt started in the early 1980’s but the progress was very slow, producing few EM specialists. Pediatric EM specialists are even more scarce. Currently, pediatric emergency care is carried out by general EM Physicians/Specialists.”
-Hany Ebeid
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14. SOUTH AFRICA
“The speciality of paediatric emergency medicine is about to be recognised in South Africa. This will give doctors the opportunity to pursue a career in this much-needed discipline. The Emergency Medicine Society of South Africa plans to launch a paediatric emergency care subgroup later this year in order to coordinate the efforts and raise the profile of excellence in paediatric emergencies.”
-Melanie Stander
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15. ETHIOPIA
“In Ethiopia the overall emergency facilities are lacking. Pediatric emergency doesn’t stand alone. Most pediatric emergencies are handled by nurses and general practitioners and small number are handled by general pediatricians. There is emergency pediatric training and 3-4 hospitals with pediatric ICU’s in the country. Emergency medications and equipments are deficient.”
-Bereket Tessema
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16. SUDAN
“The pediatric emergency care in Sudan is run mainly by pediatric specialists. We are planning to involve our emergency medicine residents in pediatric A&E soon.”
-Hussain Abdelgadir
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17. BAHRAIN
“On average, we manage 100 pediatric cases a day and commonly manage neonatal sepsis, accidental injuries and ingestion, respiratory emergencies, Sickle Cell Disease with complications and seasonal illnesses. Our pediatric room has 10 beds, each with its own monitor. Unstable cases are managed in a common resuscitation room. We need more subspecialty trained PEM in toxicology and trauma”
-Munawar Alhoda
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18. INDIA
“Pediatric emergencies are not differentiated from adult emergencies in our region (West Bengal) barring one renowned institute, known as Institute of Child Health, and few government setups. There are a few co-ops where the hospital is mother-and-child based and has some pediatric emergency capabilities.”
-Saptarshi Saha
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19. Czech Republic
“The only Paediatric Emergency Department is in a university hospital in Motol in Prague. The hospital is the largest one in Czech Republic and Paediatric hospital within this University hospital provides super-specialised care, not only for CR, but also for the region.”
-Jana Seblova
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20. IRAQ
“We ha
ve no specified pediatric emergency specialty, but we have a pediatric emergency department within pediatric hospitals. A few pediatric doctors conduct a training course in PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support).”
-Shakir Katea
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21. SAUDI ARABIA
“Paediatric Emergency care in Saudi Arabia is highly developed in a few specialized hospitals where there are emergency medicine board training programs. However these constitute nine centers out of more than 150 hospitals providing daily healthcare to the paediatric population. We need to graduate more paediatric EM fellows in the future to improve care, standards and protocols.”
-Ahmed A. Shammah AlGhamdi
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22. PAKISTAN
“Paediatric emergency medicine is still not recognized as a speciality in Pakistan. We’re still striving to make paediatricians realize that it is a separate entity.”
-Jabeen Fayyaz