Finding The Best ER For Your Child

CNN ran a great article by Elizabeth Cohen that offers tips which bear repeating here.

How do you select an Emergency Room for your children?  If you're lucky and live in an area that has lots of health care choices, you should carefully consider which one you want your kids going to.  The fact of the matter is that not all hospitals and emergency rooms are created equal.  Some are better staffed with pediatricians than others.  Some have better equipment for treating children (i.e. child-sized oxygen masks).  Some even have cartoons and kids magazines in the waiting room to put your child's nerves at ease.

Where do you live?

Obviously, if the closest hospital to you is a children's hospital, that should be your first choice.  But what if you were going to pass a general hospital to get to a children's hospital?  Is it worth the extra time?

Dr. Emory Petrack of the Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland says that when you have a "truly critical emergency" on your hands, you must get to the nearest hospital - regardless of whether it's a children's hospital or a general one.  Also, if it's a relatively small problem (a minor burn or a small cut), then the extra distance to the children's hospital might not be worth it.  However, those middle-ground cases (not life-threatening and not minor) could be worth the extra mileage.

If you live far away from a children's hospital, you might have your work cut out for you.  Dr. Petrack says you have to find out which hospitals in your area are "child-friendly." The Joint Commission has a list of ERs here.  After going to the link, choose "Pediatric Facility" from the "Type of Provider" list and input your ZIP code to find out which ERs offer services for children.