Building PECC Capacity through Community

On Aug. 18, prehospital pediatric emergency care coordinators (PECCs) gathered for the second state-based PECC Summit hosted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). The PECC Summit featured educational presentations, medical simulations, and more.

UNC is a grant site for one of the EMSC’s five Targeted Issues grant projects led by Principal Investigator Jane Brice, MD, MPH. The project, called “PECC+,” focuses on growing and sustaining PECCs through performance improvement feedback tools, educational and training resources, and a comprehensive online system. The work specifically targets 10 rural EMS systems in North Carolina, but its strategies are widely applicable.

“The goal of the PECC Summit was to build capacity and community among EMS PECCs,” says Brice.

Presentations at the event covered topics ranging from patient- and family-centered care to recognizing and reporting child abuse. Speakers included:

• Gerri Mattson, MD, MSPH, FAAP, Public Health Pediatrician
• Keila Armas Velasquez, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Parent Consultant
• Molly Berkoff, MD, MPH, Medical Director for the Child Medical Evaluation Program in North Carolina
• Billy Shelton, Paramedic and EMS Educator with Duke Life Flight

In coordination with representatives of UNC Emergency Medicine, the UNC Trauma Program, Durham Technical Community College, UNC undergraduates, and several high school research interns, the PECCs were able to participate in a simulated two-car mass casualty incident involving eight patients under the age of 17 in a low-resource rural community.

The TI grant team says the feedback received from PECCs at this year’s event will be used to assess the overall program and to develop recommendations for North Carolina and national prehospital quality improvement programs.

Learn more about PECC+ here. Learn more about the PECC role here.