Characteristics of the Pediatric Patients Treated by the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network's Affiliated EMS Agencies

AbstractObjective. To describe pediatric patients transported by the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network's (PECARN's) affiliated emergency medical service (EMS) agencies and the process of submitting and aggregating data from diverse agencies. Methods. We conducted a retrospective analysis of electronic patient care data from PECARN's partner EMS agencies. Data were collected on all EMS runs for patients less than 19 years old treated between 2004 and 2006. We conducted analyses only for variables with usable data submitted by a majority of participating agencies. The investigators aggregated data between study sites by recoding it into categories and then summarized it using descriptive statistics. Results. Sixteen EMS agencies agreed to participate. Fourteen agencies (88%) across 11 states were able to submit patient data. Two of these agencies were helicopter agencies (HEMS). Mean time to data submission was 378 days (SD 175). For the 12 ground EMS agencies that submitted data, there were...