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Prevalence of Unique Pediatric Pathologies Encountered by Paramedic Students Across Age Groups

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 May 2016

Eric V. Ernest ,
Tom B. Brazelton ,
Elliot D. Carhart Open the ORCID record for Elliot D. Carhart [Opens in a new window] ,
Jonathan R. Studnek ,
Patricia L. Tritt ,
Genghis A. Philip  and
Aaron M. Burnett
Eric V. Ernest
Affiliation:
Regions Hospital, Emergency Medical Services, Saint Paul, MinnesotaUSA
Tom B. Brazelton
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WisconsinUSA
Elliot D. Carhart
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of Emergency Services, Jefferson College of Health Sciences, Roanoke, VirginiaUSA
Jonathan R. Studnek
Affiliation:
Center for Prehospital Medicine, Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, North CarolinaUSA
Patricia L. Tritt
Affiliation:
Director of EMS and Trauma, HealthONE, Denver, ColoradoUSA
Genghis A. Philip
Affiliation:
FISDAP, Saint Paul, MinnesotaUSA
Aaron M. Burnett*
Affiliation:
Regions Hospital, Emergency Medical Services, Saint Paul, MinnesotaUSA
*
Correspondence: Aaron Burnett, MD Regions Hospital EMS 640 Jackson Street, Mail Stop 13801B Saint Paul, Minnesota 55101 USA E-mail: Aaron.M.Burnett@HealthPartners.com
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Abstract

Introduction

Traditionally, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) educators have divided the pediatric population into age groups to assist in targeting their clinical and didactic curriculum. Currently, the accrediting body for paramedic training programs requires student exposure to pediatric patients based entirely on age without specifying exposure to specific pathologies within each age stratification. Identifying which pathologies are most common within the different pediatric age groups would allow educators to design curriculum targeting the most prevalent pathologies in each age group and incorporating the physiologic and psychological developmental milestones commonly seen at that age.

Hypothesis

It was hypothesized that there are unique clusterings of pathologies, represented by paramedic student primary impressions, that are found in different age groups which can be used to target provider education.

Methods

This is a retrospective review of prospectively collected data documented by paramedic students in the Fisdap (Field Internship Student Data Acquisition Project; Saint Paul, Minnesota USA) database over a one-year period. For the purposes of this study, pediatric patients were defined arbitrarily as those between the ages of 0-16 years. All paramedic student primary impressions recorded in Fisdap for patients aged 0-16 years were abstracted. Primary impression by age was calculated and graphed. The frequency of primary impression was then assessed for significance of trend by age with an alpha ≤.05 considered significant.

Results

The following primary impressions showed clinically and statistically significant variability in prevalence among different pediatric age groups: respiratory distress, medical-other, abdominal pain, seizure, overdose/poisoning, behavioral, and cardiac. In patients less than 13 years old, respiratory and other-medical were the most common two primary impressions and both decreased with age. In patients 5-16 years old, the prevalence of abdominal pain and behavioral/psych increased. Bimodal distributions for overdose were seen with one spike in the toddler and another in the adolescent population. Seizures were most common in the age group associated with febrile seizure. Sepsis was seen most often in the youngest patients and its prevalence decreased with age.

Conclusion

There are statistically significant variations in the frequency of paramedic student primary impressions as a function of age in the pediatric population. Emphasizing paramedic student exposure to the most common pathologies encountered in each age group, in the context of the psychological and physiological milestones of each age, may improve paramedic student pediatric practice.

ErnestEV, BrazeltonTB, CarhartED, StudnekJR, TrittPL, PhilipGA, BurnettAM. Prevalence of Unique Pediatric Pathologies Encountered by Paramedic Students Across Age Groups. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2016; 31(4):386–391.

Keywords

medical educationparamedic educationpediatric
Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 31 , Issue 4 , August 2016 , pp. 386 - 391
Copyright
© World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2016 

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