As the National Pediatric Readiness Project for emergency departments (EDs) gains traction, pediatric emergency leaders recognize the need for a project that would similarly empower EMS agencies. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Section on EMS asks AAP’s Committee on Pediatric Emergency Medicine to develop a pediatric readiness in EMS systems policy statement that parallels the ED policy statement. AAP solicits support from the same authors that contributed to the ED statement: the American College of Emergency Physicians and the Emergency Nurses Association, as well as prehospital-centric organizations—the National Association of EMS Physicians and the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians. This was the first time that these five national organizations were brought together to collaborate on a single policy statement.
In advance of the publication of the joint policy statement, the PPRP Steering Committee forms, comprising of representatives from more than two dozen organizations, federal agencies, and subject matter experts. Initial work of the committee focuses on the creation of a committee charter covering four project goals:
- Using a nationwide assessment, evaluate pediatric readiness within EMS systems (assess);
- Using the EMS Joint Policy statement and the EMS nationwide assessment, define and implement no fewer than two specific pediatric readiness improvements (improve);
- Within EMS systems, assess the impact of pediatric readiness following pediatric readiness improvement implementation (measure); and
- Continue to develop improvement efforts for prehospital pediatric emergency care (sustain).
The Pediatric Readiness in Emergency Medical Services Systems Joint Policy Statement and corresponding technical report are published.
The steering committee develops the Prehospital Pediatric Readiness EMS Agency Checklist. Categories on the checklist match the recommendations listed in both the joint policy statement and technical report. Concurrently, a small workgroup of steering committee members forms to curate resources to populate a toolkit that corresponded with the checklist focus areas.
The EMS Agency Checklist and Prehospital Pediatric Readiness Toolkit launch nationally during EMS Week. The toolkit includes videos, best practices, research articles, simulations, and other resources covering:
- Education & Competencies
- Equipment & Supplies
- Patient & Medication Safety
- Patient- & Family-Centered Care
- Policies, Procedures, & Protocols
- Quality & Process Improvement
- Interactions with Systems of Care
The PPRP Assessment of more than 15,000 EMS and fire-rescue agencies nationwide launches via https://emspedsready.org/.
