Abstract:
Hospital based short stay observation units staffed by
trained medical and nursing personnel have been
documented to improve efficiency of paediatric
services1,2,3,4. Reducing patient admissions will
decrease midnight occupancy, night time nursing
work load and health care costs and preserve the
available resources for indoor paediatric patients.
Length of hospital stay is related to psychological
problems that follow hospitalization of children and
is another reason for keeping acute paediatric
admissions to a minimum5
. At the Lady Ridgeway
Hospital for Children, Colombo (LRH) outdoor
nebulisation is provided by the Emergency Treatment
Unit of the out patients department but assessment or
observation units as an alternative to acute
admissions is currently available only to patients with
diarrhoea, suspected dengue fever, head injuries or
those needing minor surgical procedures. General
paediatric admissions lack this facility.
