Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC)

Mission

Emergency Medical Services for Children has been federally funded in Georgia since 1994 with the mission of the reducing child and youth mortality and morbidity sustained due to severe illness or trauma.

Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) aims to ensure the following.

• State of the art emergency medical care for the ill and injured child or adolescent.
• Pediatric service is well integrated into an emergency medical service system backed by optimal resources.
• Entire spectrum of emergency services, including primary prevention of illness and injury, acute care, and rehabilitation, is provided to children and adolescents as well as adults.

Georgia's EMSC program is supported by the federal EMSC program and works in collaboration with the several offices and organizations.

• Office of EMS/Trauma
• Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
• Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB)
• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
• EMSC Innovation and Improvement Center (EIIC)
• Pediatric Pandemic Network (PPN)
• Pediatric Disaster Centers of Excellence

Hospital Pediatric Readiness

• The national effort to improve pediatric readiness in emergency departments is called The National Pediatric Readiness Project 
• What is pediatric readiness?
  • Children have unique physiological, emotional, and developmental characteristics that require specialized emergency care. Pediatric readiness is ensuring that every emergency department has the pediatric-specific champions, competencies, policies, equipment, and other resources needed to provide high-quality emergency care for children.
     
• Why is pediatric readiness important? 
  • Over 80% of acutely ill and injured children seek emergency care in general emergency departments.
  • Research shows that high pediatric readiness is associated with:
    • 76% lower mortality rate for ill children
    • 60% lower mortality rate for injured children
  • 70% of emergency departments in Georgia see less than 15 pediatric patients daily.

The Pediatric Readiness Centers (PRC) Program is Georgia’s pediatric facility designation program.

• Pediatric Readiness Centers in Georgia Map (coming soon)
• Pediatric Readiness Centers is a voluntary program
• The PRC program consists of three levels
• Pediatric Readiness Centers Program Flyer
• Pediatric Readiness Centers Criteria
• Pediatric Readiness Centers Explained

Level I 

The level I center is the highest level of pediatric care available. This is a comprehensive pediatric care center that houses many specialties and subspecialties. The level I PRC serves as a referral center for level II and Level III pediatric centers.

Level II

The level II center is capable of initial evaluation and stabilization of critically ill children. This facility can provide either ongoing inpatient care for the most common and some advanced medical emergencies and surgical issues or can provide appropriate, timely transfer of a child to a higher level of care.

Level III

The level III center is capable of the initial evaluation and stabilization of the critically ill child and can provide appropriate, timely transfer of child to a higher level of care if needed.

EMS Pediatric Readiness

• The National Prehospital Pediatric Readiness Project (PPRP) is the leading joint initiative to improve prehospital care for acutely ill and injured children across the United States. The PPRP is led by the federal Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) Program with support from more than 30 national organizations, federal partners, and experts. The PPRP empowers EMS and fire-rescue agencies to become "pediatric ready," or prepared to provide high-quality care for children in accordance with national recommendations.
• National Prehospital Pediatric Readiness Checklist
• National Prehospital Pediatric Readiness Toolkit

Contact Information

EMSC Email: [email protected]

Page last updated 10/03/2024