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A 2-year-old boy has been pulled out of the pool limp and lifeless after a 6-minute submersion.  911 is called and EMS professionals are 7 minutes away.   They hear the tones go off at the station and are dispatched to a “2-year-old in cardiac arrest.”

It’s an exciting time in medicine, specifically pre-hospital care and resuscitative care. As we patiently await the release of the AHA 2015 guidelines, many EMS thought leaders will have already implemented practices and protocols that will differ from AHA recommendations.

We are in the thick of summer, which means families everywhere are no doubt soaking up the sun and relishing time in the water. Kids are in the pool, sometimes up until dinner, coming out with prune-like features and giant smiles.

We talk about CPR a lot. In the field, at conferences, with industry peers and even on social media. If you follow our social media accounts (and we hope you do, cough cough), you will often see stories about the benefits of CPR. One of the biggest topics we call out, is the importance of CPR administered in pre-hospital situations, since it greatly impacts the chances of a more positive outcome.

Denver Health is hosting the 43rd annual Rocky Mountain Trauma and Emergency Medicine Conference and I am honored to be delivering the opening keynote on June 16th focusing on Pediatric Resuscitation Psychology.

Eight years ago, in a gated South Florida community on a summer afternoon, Jonathan Robbins found himself racing to his first serious pediatric call. He and his crew knew they were responding to an unresponsive 2-year-old drowning victim.

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) has garnered significant attention lately. And for good reason – according to SuddenCardiacArrest.org, it’s a leading cause of death in the U.S., claiming nearly 300,000 deaths each year.

This past year legislation was introduced – the Airplane Kids in Transit Safety (KITS) Act – in Congress, “that would require the FAA to review the contents of emergency medical kits and update them to include appropriate medications and equipment for children if deficiencies are found.”

Pre-hospital pain control is moving at a rapid pace; it’s time to buckle up for an interesting ride. While Morphine is being laid to rest by many EMS agencies due to its side effect profile, time to peak effect and the inability to be administered intranasally, other medications are moving to the forefront of care.

If you are an EMS provider and want to ruffle some feathers simply tell your local easy going pediatric specialist “kids are just little adults,” and then sit back and watch them boil up with anger.