Make Sure You’re Ready for Children

Complete the Prehospital Pediatric Readiness Assessment. While most EMS and fire rescue agencies provide emergency care to children, pediatric calls are rare. Because most agencies see fewer than eight pediatric patients per month, many EMS clinicians don’t feel capable or confident when caring for children. Being pediatric-ready or ensuring agencies are trained, equipped, and prepared for children in accordance with national recommendations can reduce anxiety and increase confidence. Research suggests it may also improve outcomes. But how do you know if your agency is really ready for its next pediatric call? The Prehospital Pediatric Readiness Project Assessment, which launched on May 1, can help. The online assessment tool is open to EMS and fire rescue agencies that respond to public 911 calls. It takes an average of 30 minutes to complete. 2 Once you’ve completed the assessment, you will receive a detailed report that will identify specific gaps in your EMS agency’s pediatric readiness. Your agency can then use the report to identify resources in the Prehospital Pediatric Readiness Toolkit to help you make improvements. As part of your report, you’ll also receive benchmarking information comparing your score with the national average score of all agencies, as well as the average score of agencies with similar pediatric volume. You can be more comfortable, capable, and confident about caring for children by taking the steps to make sure your agency is truly “peds ready” – complete the Prehospital Pediatric Readiness Assessment! To find out more about the Prehospital Pediatric Readiness Assessment, visit https://emspedsready.org/. You may also reach out to your state’s EMSC Program Manager with any questions.