Education in a pediatric emergency mass critical care setting

An emergency mass critical care event puts significant strains on all healthcare resources, including equipment, supplies, and manpower; it leads to extraordinary stresses on healthcare providers, many of whom will be expected to deliver care outside of their usual scope of practice. Education and educational resources will be critically important for training providers and diminishing the stress, anxiety, and chaos of delivering pediatric emergency mass critical care. This article suggests educational tools, as well as potential resources, that need to be developed to cope with a pediatric emergency mass critical care event. In May 2008, the Task Force for Mass Critical Care published guidance on provision of mass critical care to adults. Acknowledging that the critical care needs of children during disasters were unaddressed by this effort, a 17-member Steering Committee, assembled by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education with guidance from members of the American Academy of Pediatrics, convened in April 2009 to determine priority topic areas for pediatric emergency mass critical care recommendations.Steering Committee members established subgroups by topic area and performed literature reviews of MEDLINE and Ovid databases. The Steering Committee produced draft outlines through consensus-based study of the literature and convened October 6-7, 2009, in New York, NY, to review and revise each outline. Eight draft documents were subsequently developed from the revised outlines as well as through searches of MEDLINE updated through March 2010.The Pediatric Emergency Mass Critical Care Task Force, composed of 36 experts from diverse public health, medical, and disaster response fields, convened in Atlanta, GA, on March 29-30, 2010. Feedback on each manuscript was compiled and the Steering Committee revised each document to reflect expert input in addition to the most current medical literature. Identifying educational needs to prepare for a pediatric emergency mass critical care event is essential for all healthcare organizations. Educational strategies and tactics should be developed at multiple levels for a comprehensive approach to preparing for pediatric emergency mass critical care.