The Pediatric Education for Prehospital Professionals Course and the Pediatric Assessment Triangle: A 25-Year Retrospective

Abstract

The American Academy of Pediatrics established the Pediatric Education for Prehospital Professionals (PEPP) Course in 1998. A national PEPP Task Force rolled out the first courses in 2000, and PEPP rapidly became a foundational pediatric knowledge source in prehospital education. The backbone of the PEPP course is the pediatric assessment triangle (PAT), a simple assessment tool to help determine if an infant or child is “sick” or “not sick”, to identify the likely type of pathophysiology, and to gauge the urgency for intervention. The PAT has been validated in multiple studies as a reliable tool for emergency triage and for guiding initial management of children in both prehospital and emergency settings. Over 400,000 emergency medical services clinicians have taken the PEPP course, and the PAT has been integrated into life support courses, emergency pediatrics training, and pediatric assessment protocols worldwide. We describe the creation and successful implementation of the first national prehospital pediatric emergency care course, including the integration and widespread dissemination of an innovative assessment paradigm for pediatric emergency care education and training.