Background: Unintentional injury is the leading cause of death in pediatric patients. Despite a heavy burden of pediatric trauma, prehospital transport and triage of pediatric trauma patients are not standardized. Prehospital providers report anxiety and a lack of confidence in transport, triage, and care of pediatric trauma patients.
Materials and methods: Prehospital transport providers with 3 organizations across southeast Georgia and northeast Florida were contacted via email (n = 146) and asked to complete 2 Web-based surveys to evaluate their comfort level with performing tasks in the transport of pediatric and adult trauma patients. Bivariate statistics and qualitative thematic analyses were performed to assess comfort with pediatric trauma transports.
Results: Survey 1 (N = 35) showed that mean comfort levels of prehospital providers were significantly lower for pediatric patients than adult trauma patients in 7 out of 9 tasks queried, including airway management and interpreting children's physiology. The following themes emerged from survey 2 (N = 14) responses: additional clinical knowledge resources would be beneficial when caring for pediatric trauma patients, pediatric medication administration is a source of uncertainty, prehospital transport teams would benefit from additional pediatric trauma training, infrequent transport of pediatric trauma patients affects provider comfort level, and pediatric trauma generates higher levels of anxiety among providers.
Discussion: Prehospital transport of pediatric trauma patients is infrequent and a source of anxiety for prehospital providers. Rigs should be equipped with a reference tool addressing crucial tasks and deficiencies in training.