The motivation for this study was that inpatient unit closures in children were dropping for a decade until 2018. We wanted to see if that continued with the pandemic, as there was some concern that pediatric beds were being converted to adult beds.
The investigators found that only 2,074 (43 percent) reported having a pediatric inpatient unit. Furthermore, the number of pediatric inpatient units decreased by 30 percent between 2008 and 2022.
The hospitalization of pediatric patients generally occurs in general hospitals, though recent work led by Michelson has shown that general hospitals are more likely to transfer these patients rather than hospitalize them due in part to inpatient unit closures.
The most significant finding is that the trend did persist unabated over the years, indicating a consistent decline in pediatric inpatient resources compared to adult units.
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