COPPER is a voluntary pediatric readiness recognition program for Colorado emergency departments. The program’s mission is to help emergency departments achieve a higher level of pediatric readiness by providing key resources, support, education, and site verification. EMSC Colorado has partnered with several statewide partners (logos listed below) to develop and implement COPPER.

COPPER Steering Committee--University of Colorado Section of Pediatric Emergency Medicine Faculty/Staff:

Kathleen Adelgais, MD, MPH (co-lead)

Anne Adema, MD

Michelle Alletag, MD

Kristina Brumme, MD

Kristin Kim, MD

David Listman, MD

Stacey Quesada, MPH (co-lead)

Joe Wathen, MD

 

Learn more about COPPER

 

 

The COPECC program is being developed to promote and assist with the implementation of Pediatric Emergency Care Coordinators (PECCs) at EMS agencies across Colorado. The COPECC steering committee, comprised of EMSC Colorado staff and a variety of stakeholders from EMS agencies and hospitals across the state, meets monthly to review and develop new resources that will ultimately go into an online toolkit to support PECCs in their role. Currently, 34% of Colorado agencies have designated PECCs. COPECC’s goal is to have 60% of Colorado’s EMS agencies designate PECCs by 2023.

Learn more about COPECC

EMSC Colorado, in partnership with the Children’s Hospital Outreach Education team, offers simulation-based outreach education to emergency care providers across the state. EMSC Colorado’s mobile simulation center, designed to look and feel like the back of an ambulance, utilizes a family of high-fidelity pediatric mannequins to support pediatric education. Faculty from the Section of Pediatric Emergency Medicine volunteer their time to facilitate this simulation-based education for EMS and ED providers across the state.

For more information, or to request the mobile sim lab, please go to the EMSC Colorado Mobile Simulation Lab website.

 

The national EMS for Children Program conducts an annual survey of EMS agencies to assess the EMS system’s ability to care for pediatric patients. EMSC Colorado is responsible for promoting and administering the survey in Colorado. The two main items assessed on the survey are the percentage of agencies who have designated Pediatric Emergency Care Coordinators (PECCs) and the percentage of agencies who conduct frequent skill checks on pediatric-specific equipment.

Read results from the 2020 EMS for Children Survey

 

The National Pediatric Readiness Project (NPRP) is a multi-phase quality improvement initiative to ensure that all U.S. emergency departments have the essential guidelines and resources in place to provide effective emergency care to children. The NPRP includes a national assessment of America’s EDs to determine progress in pediatric readiness, identify existing gaps, and provide a baseline for QI programs in hospital EDs around the country. The NPRP assessment was first conducted in 2013 and will be conducted again in 2021. Colorado and Louisiana served as pilot states for the 2021 assessment, administering it September through November of 2020.

More information on the assessment and a summary of Colorado’s results