Doha, Qatar: Paediatric Emergency Medicine services at Sidra Medicine have implemented several initiatives to improve patient care and have recorded effective waiting and treatment times. On average, 88% of patients were treated and discharged within four hours.
Also in 2022, Paediatric Emergency Medicine services at Sidra Medicine recorded the highest number of patients since the opening of the hospital.
Sidra Medicine’s Emergency Medicine Services include the Paediatric Emergency Department (PED), Urgent Care Service, Qatar Poison Center, and Child Abuse Protection Services (SCAP).
“The initiatives implemented within the Paediatric Emergency services include a new process to provide care for patients by appropriate speciality teams as well as a new pathway for efficient in-patient admissions. Providing procedural sedation in the Emergency Department for orthopaedic manipulations and other complex surgical procedures has negated the need for using an additional operating room and anaesthesia resources and saved in-patient beds,” said Dr. Sudhakar Adusumilli, Division Chief of Emergency Medicine at Sidra Medicine.
According to Dr. Adusumilli, the expansion of the Emergency Department waiting area has increased the seating capacity and contributed to better managing increased volumes and streamlining patient flow.
“These measures have facilitated enhanced patient care as the department registered more than 106,000 patients in 2022; the highest number since the inauguration of Sidra Medicine, and a 15 percent increase compared to 2021,” he said.
“The year 2022 also brought the FIFA World Cup to Qatar, and we were honoured to support the tournament’s major incident plan, working collaboratively with partner agencies and the national command centre. In this respect, we treated paediatric tournament spectators who were brought to our Emergency Department during the event,” Dr. Adusumilli added.
According to Sidra Medicine’s annual report, in 2022, Sidra Medicine’s Emergency Medicine Services provided care to more than 106,000 children, with an average length of stay of 2 hours and 37 minutes. Also recorded were 4,264 inpatient admissions; a 10% increase was noted in the number of referrals received for suspected child maltreatment/abuse.
The Qatar Poison Center - a free helpline service by Sidra Medicine’s Department of Emergency Medicine, received 2,241 calls in 2022.
The helpline provides poison management advice to the public in addition to addressing inquiries regarding poisoning and offering treatment advice. The Qatar Poison Center helps to reduce unnecessary visits to the emergency department.
The Paediatric Emergency at Sidra Medicine continues to operate as Qatar’s Level 1 paediatric trauma centre, offering evidence-based best-practice care to children aged 0-18 years.
