Emergency Department at Rutland Regional Medical Center Receives Pediatric Readiness Innovator Award

RUTLAND, VT – On Tuesday, April 29, Rutland Regional Medical Center’s Emergency Department received the hospital’s first-ever Pediatric Readiness award, presented by Dr. David Nelson, a pediatric emergency physician at University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC) who leads Vermont’s program to improve pediatric emergency services for children.

The Emergency Department at RRMC achieved the Innovator level recognition, which is the highest standard of pediatric readiness. The award was presented to Emergency Department nurses, nurse leaders, clinical educators and physicians prior to a pediatric readiness training in the CVPS/Leahy Community Health Education Center at Rutland Regional Medical Center. The training courses are part of a state-wide initiative to improve pediatric emergency services.

“The pediatric readiness trainings focus on simulated emergencies that enable participants to put their skills into practice while building confidence for real emergency situations,” said Dr. Nelson. “Today we are running these simulations with nurses because in real life, the nurses are often the first ones to see the patient before a provider steps in.”

The Improve Pediatric Emergency Services project is sponsored by VCHIP (Vermont Child Health Improvement Program) and empowers emergency departments (EDs) to improve their capability to provide high-quality care for children. Children have unique characteristics that require specific care, especially in emergencies. Recently, the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open published a study after reviewing the data of pediatric patients from 4,840 emergency departments in the US. The study concluded that more than one quarter of mortalities that occur in emergency departments across the United States would be avoided if the EDs were pediatric-ready.

“We took the pediatric readiness assessment a year ago and found that our readiness score was very good, but we wanted it to be better,” said Courtney Collins, RN, Emergency Department Nurse Educator at RRMC. “Working with Dr. Nelson and his team has allowed us to continuously improve our readiness skills. To have earned one of the highest pediatric readiness scores in the state is extremely gratifying.”

Dr. Alison Davis, Medical Director of the Emergency Department at RRMC added that, “This award is a great reflection of the care we provide to our community and our commitment to quality and improvement.”