Pediatric emergencies in ambulatory settings are most likely due to respiratory distress, psychiatric and/or behavioral emergencies, or seizures. They usually require only basic interventions. EMS data are a valuable tool for identifying emergencies in ambulatory settings when validated with external data.

Introduction Emergencies in the pediatric primary care office are high-risk, low-frequency events that offices may be ill-prepared to manage. We developed an intervention to improve pediatric primary care office emergency preparedness involving a baseline measurement, a customized report out with action plans for improvement (based on baseline measures), and a plan to repeat measurement at 6 months. This article reports on the baseline measurement. Methods This baseline measurement consisted of 2 components: preparedness checklists and in situ simulations. The preparedness checklists were completed in person to measure compliance with the American Academy of Pediatrics Policy Statement: preparation for emergencies in the offices of pediatricians and pediatric primary care providers, in the domains of equipment, supplies, medication, and guidelines. Two in situ simulations, a child in respiratory distress and a child with a seizure, were conducted with the offices' interprofessional teams; performance was scored using checklists. Results Baseline measurements were conducted in 12 pediatric offices from October to December 2018. Wide variability was noted for compliance with the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations (range = 47%–87%) and performance during in situ simulations (range = 43%–100%). Conclusions Pediatric primary care office emergency preparedness was found to be variable. Simulation can be used to augment existing measures of emergency preparedness, such as checklists. By using simulation to measure office emergency preparedness, areas of knowledge deficit and latent safety threats were identified and are being addressed through ongoing collaboration.

OBJECTIVES Pediatric emergencies can occur in pediatric primary care offices. However, few studies have measured emergency preparedness, or the processes of emergency care, provided in the pediatric office setting. In this study, we aimed to measure emergency preparedness and care in a national cohort of pediatric offices. METHODS This was a multicenter study conducted over 15 months. Emergency preparedness scores were calculated as a percentage adherence to 2 checklists on the basis of the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines (essential equipment and supplies and policies and protocols checklists). To measure the quality of emergency care, we recruited office teams for simulation sessions consisting of 2 patients: a child with respiratory distress and a child with a seizure. An unweighted percentage of adherence to checklists for each case was calculated. RESULTS Forty-eight teams from 42 offices across 9 states participated. The mean emergency preparedness score was 74.7% (SD: 12.9). The mean essential equipment and supplies subscore was 82.2% (SD: 15.1), and the mean policies and protocols subscore was 57.1% (SD: 25.6). Multivariable analyses revealed that independent practices and smaller total staff size were associated with lower preparedness. The median asthma case performance score was 63.6% (interquartile range: 43.2–81.2), whereas the median seizure case score was 69.2% (interquartile range: 46.2–80.8). Offices that had a standardized process of contacting emergency medical services (EMS) had a higher rate of activating EMS during the simulations. CONCLUSIONS Pediatric office preparedness remains suboptimal in a multicenter cohort, especially in smaller, independent practices. Academic and community partnerships using simulation can help address gaps and implement important processes like contacting EMS.