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- RE: Pediatric Readiness in Emergency Medical Services Systems
To the Editor, The recent policy statements1,2,3 on pediatric readiness in EMS systems and emergency departments restate what has been obvious for the last seventy years, namely, that we as a nation have failed our sickest children.
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While individual elements of a system of emergency medical care for children exist in our country, they need to be coordinated in a seamless fashion. For those children who are identified as critically ill or injured, a single call should assure them a prehospital and hospital response that is appropriate to their needs. Here is a possible solution to the problem, an outline for creating a system of emergency medical care for pediatric patients using telemedicine.
A call to 911 will bring a police officer (or other first responder) to the child patient within seconds to minutes. That officer will wear a body camera that transmits real-time audio and video feeds to a virtual pediatric emergency medicine command center. The pediatric emergency physician at the command center will, according to the latest science on pediatric prehospital care, direct the officer’s first acts to treat the child. When the EMTs and paramedics arrive, the officer’s body camera will continue to serve as a broadcaster of the scene; and the officer will continue as a conduit of the physician’s instructions.
The command center will have current data about travel times. The center physician will also know the capabilities of area hospitals with respec...Competing Interests: None declared.