Development of the National Prehospital Pediatric Readiness Project assessment

In the United States (US), the quality of care provided to children during emergencies is highly variable. Following implementation of the National Pediatric Readiness Project (NPRP), inclusive of two national online assessments of Emergency Departments (EDs), national organizations involved in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) systems convened to launch the Prehospital Pediatric Readiness Project (PPRP). The PPRP seeks to ensure high-quality pediatric prehospital emergency care for all children. One of the first priorities of PPRP is to assess the current level of pediatric readiness in EMS systems. The development of the first comprehensive national assessment of pediatric readiness in EMS systems is described.

The 2020 joint policy statement, "Pediatric Readiness in Emergency Medical Services Systems" and the associated prehospital pediatric readiness checklist served as the foundation for the PPRP assessment. Assessment questions and scoring algorithm were developed using a modified Delphi process. The PPRP Assessment was converted into an online format comprising a website (EMSpedsReady.org), the online assessment, a personalized gap report, and non-public Tableau data-monitoring dashboards. A directory of all eligible EMS agencies in the United Staters was created to track participation. A diverse cohort of 15 EMS agencies piloted of the assessment questions and the online version of the assessment. Feedback from the pilot was integrated.

The inaugural PPRP Assessment was open access May through July 2024, and the results will be used to guide future PPRP efforts.