EMSC Connects
January 2020; Volume 9, Issue 1
Pedi Points - Tia Dickson, RN, Primary Children's Hospital
What is EMSC?
In the late 1970s, Calvin Sia, MD, president of the Hawaii Medical Association, urged members of the American Academy of Pediatrics to develop EMS programs that would reduce illness and death in children. Dr. Sia worked with U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI) to generate legislation for an initiative. With the help of Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Lowell Weicker (R-CT) this Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) Program was passed into law in 1984.
The EMSC National Goal Statement
The EMSC Program aims to ensure that emergency medical care for the ill and injured child or adolescent is well integrated into an emergency medical service system. We work to ensure the system is backed by optimal resources and the entire spectrum of emergency services (prevention, acute care, and rehabilitation) is provided to children and adolescents, regardless of where they live, attend school, or travel.
So what does Utah EMSC Offer?
Pediatric Education
When a provider is submitting a renewal application they must meet the requirements for each level as listed below. For more information on these rules check out the Utah EMS Education Update
- EMD, EMR, EMT: BLS CPR
- AEMT: BLS CPR, Peds Education
- Paramedic: BLS CPR, Peds Education, and ACLS
Pediatric Focused Monthly Newsletter
You’re reading it! We try to provide trending pediatric information to help you care for kids. This is a free, digital monthly bathroom read. A quick review of the latest and greatest in pediatrics. We want to hear about your pediatric experiences, teaching points, and perspectives. We invite submissions from our readers. Simply send them to Tia Dickson (tdickson@utah.gov) Please feel free to reproduce, forward, and link the newsletter to anyone who may find it beneficial.
PETOS our Pediatric Emergency and Trauma Outreach Series
These are pediatric lectures for EMS and include face time with PCH attending physicians. These lectures occur on the 2nd Monday of each month from 2-3 p.m. You may attend in person or watch the webinar. It will qualify for pediatric CME from the Utah Department of Health Bureau of EMS and Preparedness. Access https://intermountainhealthcare.org/locations/primary-childrens-hospital/classes-events/petos/
Pediatric Toolboxes
We want to encourage you to teach pediatrics more often and we want to make it easy for you! EMSC has produced several Pediatric Toolboxes. These are basically a lesson plan in a box. All the elements of a training right at your finger tips. Email Tia Dickson (tdickson@utah.gov) and request a toolbox. We will give you access to them housed as a Google Docx. Each lesson is two hours and includes 30 minutes of prep work and an hour and a half in class. They qualify for two free Bureau-approved CMEs.
Your EMSC Staff
Brianne Glenn, EMSC Program Manager
Tia Dickson, Nurse Clinical Consultant
Erik Andersen, Lead Course Coordinator
Hilary Hewes, EMSC Medical Director
Chuck Cruz, Pediatric Disaster Preparedness Coordinator
Emily Fernandez and Whitney Levano, EMSC Family Representatives
Beginning in 1999, Utah EMSC established what is known as the EMSC Coordinator Program. We wanted to create a pool of EMS Instructors who could promote pediatrics through:
- Teaching and coordinating educational programs
- Promoting and conducting injury prevention activities.
Through our EMSC Coordinators we disseminate pediatric education throughout the state. They are experts within your own communities who have direct access to Primary Children’s Hospital resources, pediatric equipment, and additional pediatric training. We try to maintain two Coordinators in each county. Do you know who your EMSC Coordinator is? Contact my Coordinator
Are you Interested in joining our team?
If you are a pediatric advocate within your agency, we need you. Please contact our program manager, Brianne Glenn (brianneglenn@utah.gov) to find out how you can help.
Protocols in Practice
In each of our EMSC newsletters we highlight a protocol guideline to care for the topic we are focusing on each month. 2020 will be the 3rd update of the guidelines.
Protocol Guidelines
These Utah State EMS Protocol Guidelines were developed for the Utah Bureau of EMS and Preparedness by a panel of physicians, EMS medical directors, pediatric emergency medicine specialists, paramedics, and EMTs in order to provide EMS agencies with a set of up-to-date treatment guidelines and standing orders. These guidelines were developed utilizing current best medical evidence and the expert consensus of the development panel. They incorporated information from the National Model EMS Clinical Guidelines (www.nasemso.org), feedback from the State EMS Committee, the Trauma Systems Advisory Committee, and multiple EMS medical directors and EMS providers from around the state.
The use of these guidelines by individual EMS agencies is voluntary, but encouraged. Agencies may adopt them fully as written or may use them as a reference to develop their own protocols and standing orders. As more agencies throughout the state adopt similar guidelines, EMS care statewide will become more uniform, allowing for simplified on-line medical direction by receiving hospitals, simplified mutual aid between agencies, and, ultimately, improved patient care.
These guidelines will be updated regularly to remain current and to reflect the most current EMS research. Your input is welcome and encouraged.
For questions regarding these guidelines, please contact Dr. Peter Taillac, Medical Director of the Bureau of EMS and Preparedness at ptaillac@utah.gov. For EMS Medical Directors who would like a version of these in Microsoft Word format, please contact Dr. Taillac directly.
Ask Our Doc
Happenings - Hilary Hewes EMSC Medical Director
Help improve your agency and emergency department’s readiness to take care of pediatric patients and participate in a national quality improvement project!
The national EMS for Children program, with the help of the National EMSC Data Analysis Research Center (NEDARC), will be launching two national surveys in 2020.
The 2020 EMS Annual Data Collection started on January 7, 2020. The survey for your state is now be open for respondents at emscsurveys.org. This survey asks basic demographic information about each agency including number of staff, level of certification, annual number of calls, number of pediatric calls, as well as critical information about whether your agency has a Pediatric Champion or Pediatric Emergency Care Coordinator (PECC). It will also ask what kind and how often agencies do skills checking on pediatric equipment. Please helpensure someone in your agency completes this survey. It is important for us to see how Utah agencies are doing in general and how we compare with similar agencies across the country.
The data collection will run through March 31, 2020.
On June 1, 2020, the National Pediatric Readiness Project will launch the 2020 Assessment. This assessment will be sent to nurse managers and medical directors of all emergency departments across the country to evaluate structural processes and policies in place to be ready for pediatric patients. Those who take the assessment will get immediate feedback with a gap report comparing your score with previous scores (if taken in the past) and comparing you with similar emergency departments across the country. These scores have been linked to outcomes such as mortality from critical illness, and participation in the project is very important for the Utah Department of Health to better understand the state of pediatric preparedness in Utah.
News from National EMSC
The National EMSC resources are available to all and can be found at this website
Seasonal Section
Pediatric Education and Trauma Outreach Series (Petos)
Pediatric lectures for EMS. Face time with PCH attending physicians. These lectures occur on the 2nd Monday of each month from 2-3 p.m. You may attend in person or watch the webinar. It will qualify for pediatric CME from the Utah Department of Health Bureau of EMS and Preparedness. Access at https://intermountainhealthcare.org/locations/primary-childrens-hospital/classes-events/petos/
Monday, Feb 10, 2020, 02:00 PM
Salt Lake City Public Safety Building, 300 East, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
RSVPs are enabled for this event.
42nd Annual Current Concepts in Neonatal and Pediatric Transport Conference
Wednesday, Feb 19, 2020, 08:00 AM
Primary Children's Hospital, Mario Capecchi Drive, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
2020 Zero Fatalities Safety Summit March 31-Apr 2nd
There is a fantastic EMS track at this conference, lots of swag, and registration is open now.
Tuesday, Mar 31, 2020, 08:00 AM
Davis Conference Center, 1651 North 700 West, Layton, UT 84041, USA
2020 EMSC Coordinators Workshop
Thursday, Jun 25, 2020, 08:00 AM
Hilton Garden Inn St. George, South Convention Center Drive, St. George, UT, USA
Looking for a PEPP Class?
EMSC Pediatric Education for Prehospital Providers
Register online at peppsite.org. Look up classes in Utah and find the one that works for you. Once you find the class, go to jblearning.com, and look up pepp als in the search tool. Purchase the number ($18.95). Return to peppsite.org to register for the class and follow the prompts.
If you have any questions, please email Erik Andersen at eandersen@utah.gov or text/call 435-597-7098. Continue to watch the website for additional classes.
Emergency Medical Services for Children, Utah Bureau of EMS and Preparedness
The Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) Program aims to ensure that emergency medical care for the ill and injured child or adolescent is well integrated into an emergency medical service system. We work to ensure that the system is backed by optimal resources and that the entire spectrum of emergency services (prevention, acute care, and rehabilitation) is provided to children and adolescents, no matter where they live, attend school, or travel.
Email: tdickson@utah.gov
Website: https://bemsp.utah.gov/
Phone: 801-707-3763
Facebook: facebook.com/Chirp-UtahDepartmentofHealth