Treating pediatric patients comes with its own challenges. Number one, we're worried about missed school days. Kids need to be in school. When they're not in school, they don't learn, they don't socialize. It's not good for their mental health. The other consideration, when children are out of school, their parents can't go to work. They have to stay home to take care for their kids. We talk over and over again about adult hospitalizations during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the last couple of months with the triple-demic, we've seen pediatric hospitals overwhelmed without beds, ERs holding patients overnight because there's no beds to put them in. Children get sick too, and the ability to accurately diagnose their illness early on and initiate appropriate treatment results in fewer ER visits and less pediatric hospitalizations. It's important to remember that being able to treat kids when they need it, as early as possible, really results in better outcomes.
