[How do we help children who visit an emergency department frequently?]

Abstract

Dutch research demonstrated that almost 5% of the pediatric population at an emergency department (ED) of an university hospital are so-called frequent flyers (FFs). These FFs account for more than 20% of all pediatric visits. Three-quarter of these FFs have (multiple) comorbidities. We hypothesize that among these FFs three groups can be recognized: (1) patients with acute manifestations from their comorbidity, (2) patients with medical complexity and (3) patients from families with psychosocial fragility. FFs from these groups should be recognized and offered a tailor-made care plan to reduce (unnecessary) ED visits.