Children respond differently than adults do to injury and illness, and those differences can be seen physically, emotionally, and psychologically. EMSC Day highlights the challenges emergency medical professionals face while providing adequate care to children, and it draws awareness to improving and expanding specialized pediatric care.
Parents, caregivers, EMS professionals, and healthcare workers strive to meet the unique needs of children and provide the highest quality pediatric care. Across the country, many activities take place to commemorate the day. SpecialtyCare is proud to honor Emergency Medical Services for Children Day.
History of Emergency Medical Services for Children
Over the last three decades, the Emergency Medical Services for Children program has dedicated its efforts to raising awareness around the need for specialized emergency care for children. They initially focused on addressing the gaps in the quality of pediatric care and then concentrated on pediatric EMS training, equipment, and specific guidelines throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
These focus points supported critical research that led to the implementation of specialized pediatric protocols. The program aims to set performance measures and individualized goals per state to ensure more consistency within pediatric medical care. The EMSC program will continue to implement focused initiatives through the National Pediatric Readiness Project and address the entire spectrum of emergency services for children from pre-hospital care to pediatric rehabilitation.
Benefits of EMSC
The Emergency Medical Services for Children Innovation and Improvement Center seeks to educate and conduct critical research around pediatric emergency care. EMSC has multiple grant-funded programs that support these focused improvements and advancements. These programs include:
- State Partnership (SP)
This program integrates pediatric emergency care into larger emergency medical services systems.
- Targeted Issues (TI)
This program supports innovative pediatric emergency care projects of national significance.
- State Partnership Regionalization of Care (SPROC)
This program develops systems models that improve pediatric emergency care capacity in rural and tribal communities.
- The Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN)
This program supports the infrastructure to conduct integrated multi-institutional studies to manage injury and illness in children across the spectrum of emergency medical services.
In 2019, The Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) and Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) funded five grants for targeted issues to improve and advance the current gaps within pediatric emergency care. Over the next four years, EMSC plans to invest 6.5 million dollars into initiatives to showcase the link between pediatric emergency departments and emergency medical services. These projects will also focus on improving children’s pediatric care and overall health outcomes.
Celebrating EMSC Day
This year, SpecialtyCare is honored to celebrate Emergency Medical Services for Children Day to help draw awareness to the importance of providing adequate pediatric emergency care. We hope to reduce childhood morbidity and mortality resulting from severe injury or illness through proper improvement and advancements within the emergency medical system.
About SpecialtyCare
SpecialtyCare is dedicated to providing an exceptional patient experience, becoming the OR employer of choice, and leading the way in OR innovation. We do this through staffing operating rooms and providing the equipment needed for medical procedures.