Oklahoma has been a proud partner of the Emergency Services for Children program since 1992. In 1994, Oklahoma enacted the legislation that created the “Emergency Medical Services for Children Resource Center Act”. This legislation works to maximize pediatric emergency care services through leadership, education, research and advocacy. This legislation became a permanent part of the Oklahoma state statutes and is recognized as Oklahoma State Statute Section 1-706.12 of Title 63. As it stands today, the state statute allows EMSC to provide initial and continuing education in the realm of pediatric emergency services for any individual in the healthcare field; collect and analyze data from pediatric prehospital and hospital visits for emergency medical care; develop guidelines and best practices for pediatric emergency services; and educate the public concerning pediatric emergencies.
EMSC is a national initiative designed to reduce child and youth disability and death due to severe illness and injury. The Health Resource Services Administration's (HRSA) a division of Maternal Child Health Bureau continues to administer the program at the national level in partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Federal grants fund each state and U.S. Territory to improve existing emergency medical services (EMS) systems, and to develop, evaluate, and improve procedures and protocols for treating children. This is the only federal program that focuses specifically on improving the quality of children's emergency care. Currently, only state governments and accredited schools of medicine are eligible to receive EMSC grants.
The overall goal of this project is to improve outcomes for children in the state of Oklahoma who require emergency services within our state. We work to achieve this goal by: improving pediatric prehospital and hospital resources, oversight, and quality improvement monitoring; integrating and establishing permanence of EMSC into Oklahoma’s health care infrastructure; and developing and implementing a standardized system for hospital pediatric readiness recognition that utilizes established standards and EMSC performance measures. Recently, our focus has been in the areas of safe pediatric transportation, pediatric medical education and skill classes, and building lasting partnerships.
Explore these links for more information about our program
Team
Curtis L. Knoles, MD Principal Investigator
Bobbie Keith, AHA, Training Center Coordinator
Sarah Connally, EMSC Program Manager