Pediatric Transport (v2)

1.0 CEH

Safe transportation of pediatric patients in emergency ground ambulances is an area of prehospital emergency care that is still in progress regarding establishing evidence-based, accepted standards. While it is widely acknowledged that children require safety restraints during transport, there is no accepted criteria to consistently evaluate the efficacy of safety restraint devices, or standard protocols for EMS providers using these devices in a variety of patient situations. This leaves EMS providers throughout the United States without any proven practices to improve pediatric transport safety.

To address this problem, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released in 2012 a set of interim recommendations for safe transportation of children in emergency ground ambulances that are still the working guidance for EMS today. The National Association of State EMS Officials (NASEMSO), with funding from NHTSA, also launched a project in March 2023 (expected to span about five years) focused on developing, testing, and publishing crash test methodology to evaluate devices used to secure children in an ambulance.

This program reviews the available general guidance for EMS providers regarding how to transport children most safely in a ground ambulance, current best practices for securing a child based on their condition/situation, and strategies EMS providers can use to collaborate with caregivers and children to make transportation and treatment as safe as possible.

Featuring Andrew Simpson, PMD, District Fire Department, Lake Buena Vista, Florida.