JAMA pediatrics
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Multi-institutional profile of adults admitted to pediatric intensive care units.
Growing numbers of persons with childhood-onset chronic illnesses are surviving to adulthood. Many use pediatric hospitals for their inpatient needs. To our knowledge, the prevalence and characteristics of adult pediatric intensive care unit patients have not been reported. ⋯ In this multi-institutional study, adults constituted a small but high-risk proportion of patients in some PICUs, suggesting that these PICUs should have plans and protocols specifically focused on this group.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Inpatient growth and resource use in 28 children's hospitals: a longitudinal, multi-institutional study.
To compare inpatient resource use trends for healthy children and children with chronic health conditions of varying degrees of medical complexity. ⋯ Patients with a chronic condition increasingly used more resources in a group of children's hospitals than patients without a chronic condition. The greatest growth was observed in hospitalized children with chronic conditions affecting 2 or more body systems. Children's hospitals must ensure that their inpatient care systems and payment structures are equipped to meet the protean needs of this important population of children.