Synopsis:

Surprising to many in Australia, the age band with by far the greatest number of Emergency Department (ED) presentations is that of children 0-4 years of age.  Other paediatric age bands are also among the highest in absolute numbers of ED presentations.  Understanding the reasons why parents seek ED care for their child for lower urgency conditions, the actual availability of GP services and patterns of use of alternative emergency services can assist in the efficient organisation and delivery of health services for children in Australia.

Speaker:

Professor Gary L. Freed MD, MPH is Director of the Health Systems and Workforce Unit and Professor of Population Health at the University of Melbourne and Visiting Scholar in Health Care Policy at The Royal Children’s Hospital.  He is also the Percy and Mary Murphy Professor of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine and Professor of Health Management and Policy in the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan. He currently divides his time between Melbourne and Ann Arbor. Dr. Freed has over 25 years of experience in children’s health services research and has been the principal investigator of numerous federal, state and foundation-funded grants, including the first NIH-funded paediatric health services research fellowship program. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles on child health policy and health economics, immunizations, physician behaviour, the medical workforce and inter-specialty variation in the provision of preventive services to children.