TY - JOUR T1 - Highlights from this issue JF - Archives of Disease in Childhood JO - Arch Dis Child SP - i LP - i DO - 10.1136/archdischild-2013-303759 VL - 98 IS - 3 AU - R Mark Beattie Y1 - 2013/03/01 UR - http://adc.bmj.com/content/98/3/i.abstract N2 - The unplanned reattendance rate is one of the eight new emergency department quality indicators (introduced in 2011 in the UK). This refers to paediatric and adult care, largely based on adult service data, where a reattendance rate of 1–5% is considered acceptable. The challenge is whether this figure is appropriate and achievable in children where additional factors such as rate of change of illness severity and parental anxiety may be relevant. O'Loughlin and colleagues review the reattendance rates (within 7 days) in three paediatric emergency departments by retrospective case notes review comparing the reattendance diagnosis with the initial diagnosis and assessing outcomes including change in disease severity, new diagnosis and reclassification of previous diagnosis/new problem. Interestingly despite the units being of different sizes and in different locations reattendance rates were broadly similar at around 5%. Of interest 18–34% of the children who reattended were admitted and 19–46% reattended with worse disease severity than at initial presentation. The authors emphasise some reattendance is needed to deal with changes in disease severity/type and factors such as parental anxiety otherwise we would never send anyone home. This topic is … ER -