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Hospital Increases Access to Pediatric Care with After-Hours Initiative

In an innovative way to reduce wait times and increase access to care for sick children, Beckley-AHR hospital in Beckley, West Virginia has dedicated space, a nurse and discharge wait area for after-hours pediatric care, according to a Register Herald news article.

The initiative, dubbed Quick Kidz Pediatric ER, has been in effect for roughly a month and offers “guaranteed no wait-times” for parents who bring their children in for pediatric care from 4 p.m. to midnight Monday through Friday, and noon to 8 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. 

Children are taken immediately to a child-friendly exam room. If they need to wait for test results following the exam, they are taken to a separate child-friendly discharge area, the article said. Hospital administrator Rocco Massey said the initiative “has been extremely effective,” with the longest wait times recorded at about five minutes.

Tags: access to care, pediatric care, wait times