Table 1. Baseline Characteristics of Intervention and Control Hospitals (N = 21).

Characteristic	BedsidePEWS	Usual Care
No. of hospitalsa	10	11
No. of total beds	5172	3169
No. of pediatric bedsb	937	1148
<200, No. (%)	8 (80)	10 (91)
≥200, No. (%)	2 (20)	1 (9)
Hospital Services, No. (%)
Rapid response team	5 (50)	4 (36)
Affiliated with university	8 (80)	11 (100)
Emergency department	9 (90)c	11 (100)
Cardiopulmonary bypass	5 (50)	7 (64)
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation	5 (50)	8 (73)
Solid organ transplant	5 (50)	7 (64)
Bone marrow transplant	4 (40)	6 (55)
Hospital Staffing
Most senior ward physician in-house overnight, No. (%)d
Pediatric-trained staff physician	4 (40)	3 (27)
Fellow	1 (10)	3 (27)
Resident	5 (50)	5 (45)
Most senior ICU physician in-house overnight, No. (%)
ICU staff physician	2 (20)	1 (9)
ICU fellow	5 (50)	3 (27)
Resident	1 (10)	7 (64)
Emergency physicians available overnight, No. (%)e	8 (80)	8 (73)
No. of full-time equivalent nurses
<0.5	169	117
0.5-0.9	467	962
>0.9	749	1070
Hospital Volume, No.
Patient dischargesf	26 664	46 718
Patient-days	129 700	162 497
ICU patient dischargesf	1859	2599

Abbreviations: BedsidePEWS, Bedside Paediatric Early Warning System; ICU, intensive care unit.

^aHad a pediatric ICU, pediatric trainees, staff physicians for the pediatric ICU, and pediatric surgeons. All hospitals remained eligible throughout the course of the study.

^bExcluded ICU beds.

^cOne hospital without an emergency department provided care to specialized patient populations and accepted patients from other facilities.

^dAll had 1 or more physicians in-house continuously.

^eIncluded pediatric emergency physicians or other pediatric trainees.

^fPatients who were inpatients at the end of the baseline or intervention periods were regarded as discharged from the hospital.