Past NAEMT President Nathan Williams and NAEMT Pediatrics Committee Chair Tommy Loyacono report that the EMS for Children (EMSC) program has made family-centered care a priority this year, resulting in increased interest in NAEMT’s work in this area.
EMSC announced its priorities at the annual EMSC Stakeholders and Grantees meeting held in Washington in April. Williams and Loyacono represented NAEMT at the meeting.
Two thousand-five marks the 20th year EMSC has provided federal grants to improve pediatric care nationwide. EMSC provides grant support to all 50 states and all US territories. EMSC also provides grants to address specific needs or concerns that transcend state boundaries. Typically, these projects result in a new product or resource or the demonstration of the effectiveness of a model system component or service of value to the nation. Awards range up to $200,000 per year for up to three years.
Eight of these “targeted issue” grants were awarded for FY05, two of which have a specific prehospital component. They are:
Michigan State University, Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies for Michigan’s First Simulation, Training, & Evaluation of Paramedics in Pediatrics
Principal Investigator: William D. Fales, MD
Amount: $199,998
Goals and Objectives: (1) Develop and validate a simulation-based assessment model as a clinical surrogate for evaluating paramedic clinical performance in caring for ill and injured pediatric patients; (2) complete a baseline assessment of the clinical performance of similarly trained paramedics in providing pediatric care through the validated assessment model; (3) develop a comprehensive series of realistic, intense clinical simulations using various types of pediatric educational simulators, including an advanced high-fidelity infant simulator; (4) measure the interval change in clinical performance in paramedics randomized to one of two types of recurring simulation-based training or one of two types of control groups; and (5) evaluate the impact of training with high- and low-fidelity infant patient simulators on paramedic clinical performance using the previously validated assessment model.
Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, for Predicting Cervical Spine Injury (CSI) in Children
Principal Investigator: David Jaffe, MD
Amount: $ 199,035
Goals and Objectives: Identify a set of variables that separate injured children with negligible risk of CSI from those at non-negligible risk for CSI, and to prepare for testing these criteria in EMS systems, both in and out of hospitals. The long-term objective is to refine spinal immobilization policies both in the out-of-hospital and emergency department settings for pediatric trauma patients by: (1) describing CSI among a diverse pediatric population; (2) identifying factors associated with increased risk for CSI among a diverse pediatric blunt trauma population; and (3) describing the current practice, attitudes and beliefs of out-of-hospital care providers regarding cervical spine immobilization, and perceived barriers to participation in research aimed at establishing screening criteria for CSI among children with blunt trauma.
EMSC Awards
The EMSC National Heroes Awards recognize individuals, state programs and organizations that inspire thousands with their effective and innovative products and programs, special events and research in pediatric emergency medical care. During the April meeting, five individuals, one community partnership and one research team were recognized for their outstanding efforts to improve pediatric emergency care. Awards with a prehospital care focus included:
Nels Sanddal, EMSC Provider Leadership Award:
The EMSC Provider Leadership Award recognizes a clinically-based health professional who has dedicated his or her time, talent and energy to achieve the highest level of care for children in the community. Nels has led or assisted in the design and development of numerous EMSC projects, including those that have received national recognition. His claim to fame in the EMSC world is his work in developing the Intermountain Regional EMSC Coordinating Council. His efforts through the council have led to many successful regional initiatives to improve the systems of emergency care for our children. Since 1993, he has served as an advisor, director, or lead investigator for eleven pediatric-related grants and contracts. His most current project is to develop an interactive CD-ROM for prehospital care providers based on the pediatric triage program JumpSTART. Nels is a nationally recognized speaker and author, specializing in pediatric EMS issues, children with special health care needs, and suicide.
Nebraska – Iowa Kiwanis Foundation – EMSC Community Partnership of Excellence Award
for providing much-needed, basic-level pediatric equipment and education to EMS services in Nebraska and Iowa. To date, more than 400 services in Iowa and Nebraska have received the valuable gift of equipment, and another 100 services are scheduled to receive basic-level equipment and education in the near future.
The other award recipients were: Sue Hohenhaus, North Carolina, EMSC Project Coordinator of Distinction Award; Beth MacDonald, Delaware, EMSC Family Member Volunteer of the Year; Leslee Stein-Spencer, Illinois, State EMSC Policymaker of Distinction Award; Partners for Child Passenger Safety Research Team, Pennsylvania, Outstanding EMSC Research Project Award; Robert Wiebe, MD, Texas, EMSC Lifetime Achievement Award.
For more information on this year’s award winners, click here.