The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation initiated a project in September 2008 titled “Solutions to Safely Transport Children in Emergency Vehicles.” The major objectives of this project were to:
1. Build consensus in the development of a uniform set of recommendations to safely and appropriately transport children (injured, ill, or uninjured) from the scene of a crash or other incident in an ambulance;
2. To foster the creation of best practice recommendations after reviewing the practices currently being used to transport children in ambulances; and
3. To provide consistent national recommendations that will be embraced by local, State and national emergency medical services organizations, enabling them to reduce the frequency of emergency transport of ill, injured or uninjured children who may be transported in an unsafe or inappropriate manner.
To achieve these major objectives, a working group was formed; the working group was comprised of members with experience, background, and extensive knowledge in the current practices of the emergency transportation of children in ground ambulances. The expert members of the working group were drawn from those organizations and entities involved in the health care of children and the emergency transportation of children and others in ground ambulances. It should be noted that throughout the remainder of this document, references to ambulances are limited to ground ambulances, unless otherwise stated. Also, based upon the deliberations of the working group, it was decided to use the terms “child” or “children” versus “youth” to the extent practical throughout the remainder of this document, to represent all children, starting at birth.
