Alaska EMS agencies can now check pediatric readiness with new online tool

Alaska's emergency medical service and fire-rescue agencies can now check how ready they are to handle child emergencies using a new national assessment tool, the Alaska Emergency Medical Services for Children program announced.

The National Prehospital Pediatric Readiness Project launched an open assessment at EMSpedsReady.org. Agencies can take it anytime and retake it as often as they want. The tool creates an instant gap report showing overall and item-level scores to guide improvements.

The Alaska Emergency Medical Services for Children program, housed within the Alaska Department of Health, lists pediatric readiness as a core program area. It works to advocate for children's emergency care needs across the state. National guidance says high-quality out-of-hospital care for children requires an EMS infrastructure designed to support pediatric care. That includes appropriate equipment, training, and protocols. The EMSC Program nationally has made pediatric readiness a priority performance measure and integrates it into EMS for Children surveys and quality improvement work that includes Alaska agencies.

The EMS assessment tool fits within Alaska's broader pediatric-readiness framework. Alaska's EMSC program published detailed guidance for a Pediatric Facility Recognition Program in 2019. That program designates hospitals as Pediatric Ready Emergency facilities based on surveys and recommendations reviewed by the state. National pediatric-readiness guidance and assessment efforts have evolved since 2020, when a joint policy statement on pediatric readiness in EMS systems established infrastructure standards, through the 2023 launch of the EMSpedsReady.org tool now available to Alaska agencies.

The assessment is designed for one submission per agency. It can be downloaded for team review before completing it online. Agencies that participated in the 2024 nationwide assessment can use the open tool to measure two-year progress. Agencies that did not participate can establish a baseline to guide future improvements.

"When a child experiences a health emergency, the stakes are high," the program said in its announcement. "But because pediatric emergencies happen infrequently, EMS systems may not be as experienced in managing them as they are adults."

The program encouraged agencies to talk with leadership and teams about the importance of participating, identify the best person to take the assessment, and use the gap report to guide improvement efforts.

The announcement came during EMS for Children Day, part of national EMS Week. The Alaska EMSC program thanked clinicians, educators, dispatchers, partner agencies, and community members who work to strengthen pediatric emergency care across the state.

"Whether you provide care in the field, support pediatric preparedness and training, guide response from dispatch, or work behind the scenes to improve systems of care, your efforts make a meaningful difference for Alaska's children and families every day," the program said.