QUALITY IMPROVEMENT

IN

EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN

 

 

 

Quality in emergency medical services for children (EMSC) is the sum of all activities undertaken within an EMS system to develop and maintain a standard of excellence in emergency care for children.  Improvement of the system should be continuous, customer-centered, data driven, and offer a scientific approach to improvement based on quantitative methods, evidence based practices, and organizational development principles.  It involves decreased dependence on changing behavior through deterrence by inspecting or searching for errors, problems, or deficiencies but rather improving the process or system so that problems are less likely to occur from the beginning.

 

Quality improvement in EMSC involves assuring that children:

 

  • obtain illness and injury prevention services;
  • receive family centered and culturally competent care;
  • receive the appropriate prehospital care by educated bystanders, first responders, and/or emergency medical technicians;
  • are transported, when required, in an emergency vehicle furnished with child-size equipment;
  • receive care at the best facility to meet their pediatric emergency and critical care needs; and
  • have a medical home that promotes recovery and continued wellness.

 

Quality improvement in EMSC requires:

 

  • strong leadership at all levels to articulate a vision and inspire a lasting commitment;
  • a focus on the customer (children, families, and communities);
  • collaborative efforts between partners that can improve the process and outcomes of emergency care of children;
  • links to strategic planning goals, education and training, and program development;
  • data and information that is reliable, rapidly accessible, standardized, and timely;
  • pediatric clinical guidelines and measures of performance that assist in guiding, evaluating, and improving EMSC; and
  • a commitment to research that contributes evidence for changes in practice

 

Quality improvement in EMSC presents many complex challenges and opportunities to continually improve care for children and their families.

 

GIVING AMERICA’S CHILDREN OUR BEST

 

For questions, contact

Illinois EMSC, 2160 S. First Avenue, Bldg 110- LL, Maywood, IL 60153  (708)-327-EMSC (3672) www.luhs.org/emsc

or

EMSC National Resource Center 111 Michigan Ave. NW, Washington DC, 20011 (202) 844-4927 www.ems-c.org