Original ContributionsImproving emergency medical services for children with special health care needs: Does training make a difference?*,**,*
Section snippets
Methods
We defined CSHCN as children, 21 years of age or younger, with a congenital or acquired condition or chronic physical or mental illness, affecting physical or mental growth and development, who require one or more of the following: an assistive technology device; prolonged or frequent hospitalization; or a specialized approach to assessment or management. This operational definition was developed by reviewing pre-existing definitions used by federal, state, and local agencies. Our case
Results
The analytic results presented here are limited to 172 responses (out of 332 responses occurring after our training program was completed) that were related to the child's special health care need. An example of a related response was a call for shortness of breath caused by an acute asthma attack. An unrelated response was a response for a child with diabetes who was injured in a motor vehicle crash. Of these 172 responses, 119 (69.2%) involved a paramedic who had completed our training
Discussion
The purpose of this study was to determine if specialized training for paramedics about CSHCN resulted in differences in treatment, transport and admission to the hospital. Our study found that few ALS interventions were deemed necessary, despite the fact that there was ALS capability (ALS trained paramedics and equipment) available during the majority of responses. This was true both for responses with our training group paramedics and for comparison group paramedics. One significant
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Cited by (0)
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Supported in part by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grant no. 030671.
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Address reprint requests to Daniel W. Spaite, MD, FACEP, Arizona Emergency Medicine Research Center, University of Arizona, 245057 UA, Tucson, AZ 85724.
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