Technology-Dependent Pediatric Inpatients at Children’s Versus Nonchildren’s Hospitals

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Technology-dependent children (TDC) are admitted to both children’s hospitals (CHs) and nonchildren’s hospitals (NCHs), where there may be fewer pediatric-specific specialists or resources. Our objective was to compare the characteristics of TDC admitted to CHs versus NCHs.

METHODS: This was a multicenter, retrospective study using the 2012 Kids’ Inpatient Database. We included patients aged 0 to 18 years with a tracheostomy, gastrostomy, and/or ventricular shunt. We excluded those who died, were transferred into or out of the hospital, had a length of stay (LOS) that was an extreme outlier, or had missing data for key variables. We compared patient and hospital characteristics across CH versus NCH using χ² tests and LOS and cost using generalized linear models.

RESULTS: In the final sample of 64 521 discharges, 55% of discharges of TDC were from NCHs. A larger proportion of those from CHs had higher disease severity (55% vs 49%; P < .001) and a major surgical procedure during hospitalization (28% vs 24%; P < .001). In an adjusted generalized linear model, the mean LOS was 4 days at both hospital types, but discharge from a CH was associated with a higher adjusted mean cost ($16 754 vs $12 023; P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS: Because the majority of TDC are hospitalized at NCHs, future research on TDC should incorporate NCH settings. Further studies should investigate if some may benefit from regionalization of care or earlier transfer to a CH.