The Prehospital Pediatric Readiness Project (PPRP) is a federally funded initiative of the Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) program. The project empowers EMS and fire rescue agencies to improve their capability to care for acutely ill and injured children. For the first time, PPRP launched a national Prehospital Pediatric Readiness assessment which ran from May-July 2024, led by the National EMSC program. This assessment will provide a snapshot of where we our prehospital agencies stand in becoming “pediatric ready.”

Thank you to all agencies that have participated
WI EMSC would like to express our sincerest gratitude to all agencies who have participated in the PPRP assessment! We know it was not easy to find the time in already packed days to complete the PPRP, but your participation will be the key to informing future pediatric readiness resources.

As if July 31, the PPRP assessment closed with over 7,000 responses from all states and territories.  Wisconsin had over 200 local EMS and fire rescue agencies participate in the PPRP assessment ranking Wisconsin 11th compared to all states and U.S. territories in number of responses.

While pediatric incidents only account for approximately 10% of all prehospital calls, the limited frequency of pediatric interactions results in clinicians being less familiar with, and often less confident in, providing pediatric care. Assessing current readiness and utilizing available resources to improve training, knowledge, equipment, policies and clinician confidence is likely to increase readiness. Participation in the PPRP assessment is the first major step in aligning all prehospital agencies to be pediatric ready both in Wisconsin and nationally!

What can your agency do to start improving pediatric readiness?

  1. While the PPRP assessment is currently closed, keep an eye out, it will reopen soon once data from the first data collection period has been finalized. Head to emspedsready.org to take the assessment once it is open, or fill out the PDF version here.
  2. Utilize the EMSC Innovation and Improvement Center toolkit to start addressing any identified gaps.
  3. Reach out to WI EMSC Program Leader, Carissa Brunner, for any questions related to pediatric readiness!

Written by:
Carissa Brunner, MPH, CLC
Program Leader, Emergency Medical Services for Children