Objectives and Implementation
It is important to approach outreach education as an opportunity for positively influencing care for children. Transport team members may be concerned about criticizing patient management by referring hospital staff and the potential effects on future referrals.
It is recommended that “ground rules” be presented and agreed on by all participants, including the confidentiality of any discussions held during case reviews. Education should be provided in a nonjudgmental manner, and the participants should be encouraged to offer their own experiences and cases and to point out to others any unique or unusual capabilities or configurations of their own facility.Communication among transport team members and referring facility personnel at the time of a stressful neonatal or pediatric stabilization can be difficult. Professionals, often previously unknown to each other, must work together and trust each other in the interest of optimal patient care. The value of advanced preparation through outreach education cannot be overemphasized. There is a different quality of cooperation (hopefully improved) and mutual trust when a team member and staff member recognize each other from a previous nonstressful encounter.
Outreach education should not be limited to referring health care facilities. The transport team members are experts in pediatric and neonatal care. Developing relationships with local, regional, and/or state emergency medical services agencies also should be an important outreach activity. Well-prepared prehospital providers will become more comfortable with smaller patients and able to provide better care to pediatric and neonatal patients. Many EMS agencies offer regular continuing education conferences throughout the year, and the transport team members (physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, and paramedics) can be the experts to bring some of the same formal courses or individual lectures and skills to prehospital providers at these conferences.
Members of the transport team (physicians, nurses, and paramedics) also may be invited to participate on regional or state-wide prehospital committees, as advisors, and to share their expertise in developing and/or refining protocols. Outreach education may also incorporate expert testimony and lobbying at the local, state, and national governmental level and to other key policy makers including professional associations, advocacy groups, and nongovernmental organizations.Outreach education programs are an essential component of a successful transport program. This is especially true in pediatrics, because referring facility staff may be less trained, inexperienced, or uncomfortable when faced with a critically ill neonate or child. Outreach education benefits the patients, transport team personnel, referring hospital personnel, and receiving hospital. Better stabilization of the patient's condition may occur, communication will improve, and referrals may increase.
Selected Readings
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American Heart Association, American Academy of Pediatrics. Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) Instructor’s Manual. Dallas, TX: American Heart Association; 2011
American Heart Association, American Academy of Pediatrics. Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) Provider Manual. Dallas, TX: American Heart Association; 2011
American Heart Association. Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) for Experienced Providers. Dallas, TX: American Heart Association; 2013
American Academy Pediatrics. Pediatric Education for Prehospital Professionals (PEPP). Dieckmann RA, ed. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers; 2013
Emergency Nurses Association. Course in Advanced Trauma Nursing (CATN)-II: A Conceptual Approach to Injury and Illness. 2nd ed. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co; 2002 Emergency Nurses Association. ENPC: Emergency Nursing Pediatric Course Instructor’s Supplement.
3rd ed. Des Plaines, IL: Emergency Nurses Association; 2004Emergency Nurses Association. ENPC: Emergency Nursing Pediatric Course Provider Manual. 3rd ed. Des Plaines, IL: Emergency Nurses Association; 2004
Emergency Nurses Association. TNCC: Trauma Nursing Core Course Instructor Supplement. 5th ed. Des Plaines, IL: Emergency Nurses Association; 2010
Emergency Nurses Association. TNCC: Trauma Nursing Core Course Provider Manual. 5th ed. Des Plaines, IL: Emergency Nurses Association; 2010
Forrest S. Learning and teaching: the reciprocal link. J Contin Educ Nurs. 2004;35(2):74-79
American Academy of Pediatrics. APLS: The Pediatric Emergency Medicine Course Instructor Manual. 5th ed. Gauche M, ed. Elk Grove Village, IL: American Academy of Pediatrics; 2012 Hazinski MF, Cummins RO, Field JM, eds. Handbook of Emergency Cardiovascular Care for HealthCare Providers. Dallas, TX: American Heart Association; 2010
Karlsen K. The S.T.A.B.L.E. Program Learner/Provider Manual. Park City, UT: The S.T.A.B.L.E. Program; 2006. Available at: http://www.stableprogram.org. Accessed May 9, 2013
American Academy of Pediatrics, American Heart Association. Instructor’s Manual for Neonatal Resuscitation. 6th ed. Kattwinkel J, Zaichkin J, eds. Elk Grove Village, IL: American Academy of Pediatrics and American Heart Association; 2011
Kattwinkel J, Cook LJ, Nowacek G, et al. Regionalized perinatal education. Semin Neonatol. 2004;9(2):155—165
Linares AZ. Learning styles of students and faculty in selected health care professions. J Nurs Educ. 1999;38(9):407-414
Loewen L, Seshia MM, Askin DF, Cronin C, Roberts S. Effective delivery of neonatal stabilization education using videoconferencing to Manitoba. J Telemed Telecare. 2003;9(6):334-338 Yaeger KA, Halamek LD, Coyle M, et al. High-fidelity simulation-based training in neonatal nursing. Adv Neonatal Care. 2004;4(6):326-331