Pediatric Office Emergency Preparedness: An Intensive In-Office Training Curriculum

Preparation is vital to improve resuscitation outcomes for children presenting to the primary care office with emergent conditions. Previous literature has provided recommendations for medications, equipment, and skills necessary to provide appropriate care. Most studies thus far demonstrated offices are unprepared according to those recommendations. We sought to provide an intensive emergency training and preparation curriculum to local primary care pediatric offices to improve their emergency readiness.

Using a high-fidelity manikin, a simulation instructor team visited several offices and trained teams including physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, medical assistants, front desk staff, and billing/management staff. Two emergency resuscitation simulations were performed per session with education after each scenario. The instructor team taught procedures, provided teamwork training, and provided feedback on medications, equipment, and resuscitation priorities.

Eight primary care pediatric offices participated in the curriculum, 36 training sessions were conducted, and 229 staff were trained. Numerous issues with medications, equipment, teamwork dynamics, and pediatric emergency resuscitation were revealed. There was always significant improvement from the first to the second simulation in each session.

Our intensive emergency training and preparation curriculum experience with local primary care pediatric offices highlighted discrepancies between the perceived level of office preparedness and actual experience during a simulated emergency. Office staff felt more prepared for an emergency after the training, and office medications and equipment were re-evaluated to provide a more efficient and effective resuscitation for their patients.