Episode Details
Back to Episodes#440 - 🔵 [PAS 2026] - Are Children's Hospitals Running Out of Room to Care?
Description
Dr. Elisabeth Kuhn, researcher focused on hospital operations, presents findings from a mixed-methods study examining how US children's hospitals measure and respond to capacity strain — the point at which demand for care outpaces the ability to deliver it safely. In a survey of 45 tertiary children's hospitals, 43 reported experiencing capacity strain in the past year, underscoring just how widespread and persistent the problem has become since the triple-demic brought it into sharp focus. She argues that current metrics like occupancy rates and boarding times fail to capture the real clinical experience of strain — which is driven by acuity and complexity, not just bed counts — and calls for better measurement tools tied directly to patient outcomes, alongside broader policy change to address what no amount of internal reshuffling can fully solve.
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