When a child comes into the emergency room at Children’s Hospital in Oakland suffering from a serious medical condition, the staff at Northern California’s most active pediatric trauma center is ready to jump into action. But in a rural hospital the family of a critical child faces a much different scenario: there are likely no pediatric specialists in the ER and they are hundreds of miles from the nearest trauma center.
“Unfortunately, many hospitals – particularly those in rural or remote areas –do not have the resources to treat critically ill and injured children,” says Dr. Heidi Flori, medical director, Critical Care, and director of the Pediatric Critical Care Research Program at Children’s Hospital, Oakland. “Evidence shows the best outcomes for these children are achieved when they are transferred to a pediatric specialty center such as Children’s.”
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