Looking back at 2022

What we accomplished in 2022 - thanks to your help.

Prehospital pediatric readiness:

-Received survey responses from 8,000+ EMS agencies and released a national report on the results

-Hosted an EMSC Day webinar about prehospital practitioner mental health, attended by 500+

-Published findings from the Pediatric Emergency Care Coordinator (PECC) Learning Collaborative

-Partnered with the National Association of EMS Educators on a webinar about the Prehospital Pediatric Readiness Project (assessment will launch in 2024!)

Hospital pediatric readiness:

-Supported pediatric readiness in reaching new heights – from mentions in the New York Times to hosting a team expanding readiness in Denmark

-Saw an emphasis on pediatric readiness in a joint statement by the AAP, ACEP and ENA on patient safety for children in the ED

-Demonstrated that ED facility recognition programs are associated with a 24-point median increase in pediatric readiness scores with programs now existing in 18 states

Trauma pediatric readiness:

-Supported the integration of pediatric readiness into trauma center verification standards, including through a two-day trauma “sprint”

-Published national priorities for quality improvement (QI) in pediatric trauma care

-Contributed to a new report, “Status on Pediatric Trauma System Development in the United States”

Disaster preparedness:

-Responded to the pediatric surge crisis, particularly through a collaborative resource compilation and prehospital-specific resources

-Helped providers prepare for crises year-round through an updated checklist and QI initiatives for hospitals and clinics. (Registration for clinics is open through Dec. 31!)

-Supported, through close partnerships, the expansion of the Pediatric Pandemic Network plus a new Pediatric Disaster Center of Excellence

Learning and QI opportunities:

-Developed two new Pediatric Education and Advocacy Kits and reached 5,000+ participants in a prehospital status epilepticus learning module

-Closed out the PECC Workforce Development Collaborative and launched registration for the ED Screening and Treatment Options for Pediatric (STOP) Suicide QI Collaborative. (Registration is open now through mid-January!)

-State Partnership Programs offered dozens of grassroots opportunities at the state and regional level, from multistate symposiums to publishing results of a large-scale prehospital simulation project

Research:

-Propelled advances on clinical topics – including publications on areas from child abuse during the pandemic to bacterial meningitis in febrile infants – with another 12 studies in the manuscript writing phase, 10 studies in grant development, and 10 grants in review

-Additional activities focused on improving care for kids in a number of ways, from preventing mobilization with C-spine injuries and reducing radiology use to creating an algorithm to predict sepsis and admission

-Demonstrated the power of pediatric readiness, from finding a 30% lower mortality risk out to one year after care at EDs with high pediatric readiness to research suggesting that high-acuity, pediatric-capable EDs may influence neighboring EDs

Patient and family advocacy:

-Initiated a collaboration with the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians to update guidance for practicing patient- and family-centered care

-Advanced implementation of EIIC’s strategic plan for equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), including offering workshops and collecting related data from EMSC grantees