Pediatric Emergency Medical Services Research

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Currently, there is a limited evidence base in prehospital care, especially so in pediatric prehospital care. This is, in part, due to the many obstacles in conducting clinical trials in the prehospital setting requiring added resources and funding to accomplish. The Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network and other organizations have only recently started to encourage the formation of systems to support prehospital research including practical state and national data registries.

Section snippets

Current State of Pediatric EMS Research

Despite some high-quality studies, the overall state of pediatric EMS research has been described as lacking. The most recent publication to identify this lack of pediatric prehospital research was a review conducted by the EMSC National Resource Center called “Gap Analysis of EMS Related Research.”1 The National Resource Center, which is funded by the EMSC program, was commissioned to conduct the gap analysis. The gap analysis project conducted a comprehensive literature review through the

Barriers and Enablers in Prehospital Research

There are many factors that make conducting prehospital-based research unique when compared with other types of clinical research including research conducted in the ED setting. A key difference is the uncontrolled environment in which prehospital care takes place. The EMS providers encounter the patient and conduct most management either in the home of the subject or in some other location that is unknown to the investigator. Furthermore, clinical trials in the prehospital setting often

Obtaining Data for EMS Research

Both the PECARN Prehospital Infrastructure Project and the Research in Prehospital Care: Models for Success Project found that collecting data in the prehospital environment is challenging, and it is best to use existing medical record documentation. However, the lack of standardization in data collection methods makes combining data between agencies difficult. However, there have been significant national efforts to resolve this issue.

These efforts have been funded by both NHTSA and EMSC, and

Quality Improvement

Defining quality and the process of quality improvement in pediatric prehospital care is an important issue. Only with a clear quality improvement agenda will there be benchmarks for the quality of care and measures for gauging system improvement. To put this process into action for EMS systems and pediatric prehospital care, there needs to be a determination of what particular actions or interventions are going to bring the most benefit in health outcomes to the most children. To determine

Summary

This is an exciting time in the history of EMS. The process of providing care in the out-of hospital setting has become recognized as a subspecialty, with better EMS systems and community recognition that EMS is a required service for their citizens. Thus, we have achieved the developmental milestone demonstrating that EMS is an important and distinct component within the national health care system. Now we have the opportunity to use focused research to improve EMS and ensure that we are

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