Quality Management of Prehospital Pediatric Respiratory Distress and Airway Programs: An NAEMSP Position Statement and Resource Document

Abstract

The unique challenges of pediatric respiratory and airway emergencies require the development and maintenance of a prehospital quality management program that includes pediatric-focused medical oversight and clinical care expertise, data collection, operational considerations, focused education, and clinician competency evaluation.

NAEMSP recommends:

• Medical director oversight must include a focus on pediatric airway and respiratory management and integrate pediatric-specific elements in guideline development, competency assessment, and skills maintenance efforts.

• EMS agencies are encouraged to collaborate with medical professionals who have expertise in pediatric emergency care to provide support for quality management initiatives in pediatric respiratory distress and airway management.

• EMS agencies should define quality indicators for pediatric-specific elements in respiratory distress and airway management and benchmark performance based on regional and national standards.

• EMS agencies should implement both quantitative (objective) and qualitative (subjective) measures of performance to assess competency in pediatric respiratory distress and airway management.

• EMS agencies choosing to incorporate pediatric endotracheal intubation or supraglottic airway insertion must use pediatric-specific quality management benchmarks and perform focused review of advanced airway management.

Key words:

• pediatric airway management
• pediatric respiratory emergencies
• pediatric intubation
• quality improvement
• quality management