Prehospital Pediatric Care: Opportunities for Training, Treatment, and Research

Abstract

Children made up a small part of EMS providers' clinical practice; those encountered most frequently had respiratory distress, seizures, trauma, or an undefined assessment (i.e., "other"). EMS providers frequently encounter children with physiologic evidence of acute illness, although vital sign documentation was incomplete. Prehospital providers infrequently perform pediatric interventions. Describing EMS providers' interaction with children provides the opportunity to target improvements in pediatric prehospital treatment, training, and research.

Interobserver Agreement in Pediatric Cervical Spine Injury Assessment Between Prehospital and Emergency Department Providers

“…Emergency medical services (EMS) providers commonly encounter children with blunt trauma . Although cervical spine injuries (CSI) are rare in children, evaluation for CSIs in all injured children is crucial to prevent morbidity and mortality .…”

“…Emergency medical services (EMS) providers commonly encounter children with blunt trauma . Although cervical spine injuries (CSI) are rare in children, evaluation for CSIs in all injured children is crucial to prevent morbidity and mortality . When there is a perceived potential for CSI, EMS providers will frequently use methods to restrict spinal motion, such as the application of rigid cervical collar, with the goal of preventing further neurologic injury; however, this practice is variable in application, has unknown efficacy, and is associated with adverse effects .…”

Out‐of‐hospital paediatric emergencies: a prospective, population‐based study

“…The epidemiology and characteristics of paediatric out‐of‐hospital (OOH) emergencies have seldom been studied on the population level . The lack of accurate epidemiologic knowledge on paediatric OOH emergencies may lead to inadequate training and responses among emergency medical (EM) personnel.…”

Establishing the Key Outcomes for Pediatric Emergency Medical Services Research

“…As a result, throughout the breakout session, EMS provider recognition of the type of illness and illness severity was identified as important across all disease categories. To date, however, numerous studies demonstrate that EMS providers struggle to correctly identify certain clinical conditions among their pediatric patients, particularly respiratory failure and shock . Given the importance of this cross‐cutting measure, research is warranted to evaluate the resources required to achieve and maintain competency in pediatric illness recognition.…”