In 2013, more than 4,100 emergency departments (ED) across the nation voluntarily participated in an assessment to determine their readiness to care for a sick or injured child. It is exciting to see that so many hospitals in this country (83% of the approximately 5,000 hospitals nationwide) participated in the assessment and indicated their widespread interest in improving care for children.

The majority of hospitals that participated in the assessment were hospitals that see the lowest volume of pediatric patients per year. Low volume hospitals can see as few as two pediatric patients per day, whereas higher volume hospitals in urban settings can see as many as 200 children per day.

Each hospital that completed the assessment - which was based on the Joint Policy Statement: Guidelines for the Care of Children in the Emergency Department (published in Pediatrics, October 2009 and Annals of Emergency Medicine, October) - received immediate feedback in the form of a readiness score and a gap analysis report. The "Pediatric Readiness Score" is based on a scale of 0-100.

The median pediatric readiness score for all participating hospitals is 69 (n = 4,146).