The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent the transition from the Millennium Development Goals and goal five has universal coverage of quality healthcare as a target, including the prevention and treatment of communicable and non-communicable diseases (United Nations, 2000). Pediatric emergency services as a regular source of sick care are expected to form a key component of this target. In order to achieve this, accurate information about the causes of morbidity and mortality is essential (Bryce et al. 2005). Thus the pattern of presentation and outcome should be monitored periodically in order to provide better quality of care, effective distribution of hospital resources and institute adequate preventive measures. Specifically this knowledge facilitates the anticipation of problems and the preparation of standard treatment protocols. It also serves as an important internal auditing tool which can identify areas of strength and areas of weakness that can be improved upon. This study is the first audit of the children's emergency room of this teaching hospital and it is hoped that it will be used as a bench mark for future assessments and also provide a platform for comparison by researchers in other parts of the country and the world.

This was a descriptive, retrospective study conducted at the Children Emergency Room (CHER) of Enugu State University Teaching Hospital (ESUTH), Enugu. It is a tertiary health facility in the South-East region of Nigeria. It provides all levels of health care and it's open for 24 hour service. Children from age of 1 day to 18 years are seen in CHER. The unit caters to patients from all parts of the region and beyond and includes direct presentations, children referred from the institution's out-patient departments as well as referrals from other