The role of the pediatrician in rural EMSC

In rural America pediatricians can play a key role in the development, implementation, and ongoing supervision of emergency medical services for children (EMSC). Often the only pediatric resource for a large region, rural access pediatricians are more likely to treat pediatric emergencies in their own offices, and are a vital resource for rural physicians, or other rural health care professionals (physician assistants, nurse practitioners), and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) to improve system-wide EMSC by providing education about issues from prevention to rehabilitation, technical assistance in protocol writing, hospital care, and data accumulation, and as advocates for community and state legislation to support the goals of EMSC.