Behavioral (Communication) Skills

Reference card

Medical encounters are often frightening for children and stressful for their families. This article describes and demonstrates a practical approach to rapidly establishing trust with children in the emergency department.

EMS personnel – Emergency Medical Responders, Emergency Medical Technicians, Advanced Emergency Medical Technicians, Paramedics, and transporters who work with these medical professionals – can play an important role in reporting and stopping human trafficking. By understanding the dynamics of human trafficking, EMS personnel can help victims. The key to being able to report suspected trafficking is to understand what human trafficking is, what it might look like, and how to report it.

EMS World Blog (12/05/2020)

Video project by the Autism Society of Central Texas (ASCT), Red Media Group, Chester Security, parents and people with autism to help train first responders about autism. This video is free to use for any first responder group who is interested in learning more about autism.

HEAL Trafficking created this three-part training series for the International Organization for Migration, Finland on responding to human trafficking.

Recommended EMS Guidelines for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs.

These provide step-by-step guidance on how to manage medical emergencies involving various types of medical technology that may be encountered when called to care for a special needs child.

A Position Paper from the National Association of EMS Educators (NAEMSE)

Abstract: EMS personnel in the U.S. continue to be overwhelmingly Caucasian and male, with 75% being male and 85% identifying as nonminority. While the population of the United States becomes more diverse in ethnicity, religion, and race, the EMS workforce remains largely homogenous and does not reflect the diversity of the population it serves. Given the growing diversity across the country, EMS personnel will increasingly be responding to calls for service involving patients with different cultural backgrounds than their own. This growing gap between providers and the population they serve may exacerbate already existing disparities in care.

Free access

EMS World Article (01/29/2020)

This important document will assure prompt and appropriate care for Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN). Now, when these patients present to emergency departments or health care professionals with an acute illness or injury, physicians, parents, EMS professionals, and nurses will be able to use the Emergency Information Form (EIF) as a tool to transfer critical information.

The EIF will ensure that a child's complicated medical history is concisely summarized and available when it is needed most - when the child presents with an acute health problem at a time when neither parent nor pediatrician is immediately available.

Link to ACEP webpage includes the form (PDF & interactive), a sample/completed form, and ACEP & AAP Policy Statements.

Tips for the safe transport of children.

From Pedi-Ed-Trics Emergency Medical Solutions, in this "Give Me Five" Lisa chats with an innovator in the world of EMS and caring for patients with autism. This simple solution will both improve patient care and deescalate stressful emergencies.

This document provides first responders with information on missing children with autism, including characteristics and behaviors of children on the autism spectrum, strategies for building awareness through community partnerships, and tips on using technological solutions to locate children who have gone missing.  

This resource was developed under the International Association of Chiefs of Police's Home Safe Project, in collaboration with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and The Arc of the United States’ National Center on Criminal Justice and Disability, supported by the Bureau of Justice Assistance.  

This document provides first responders with key information and guidance regarding searching for children with autism who have gone missing. Recommended questions to ask families and caregivers are included.

This resource was developed under the International Association of Chiefs of Police's Home Safe Project, in collaboration with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and The Arc of the United States’ National Center on Criminal Justice and Disability, supported by the Bureau of Justice Assistance.