Together, J&B and the AAP will publish a new national education curriculum to help prehospital professionals to better assess and manage ill or injured children. The course, Pediatric Education for Prehospital Professionals (PEPP), is currently under development by a collaborative PEPP Steering Committee.

The AAP has created a coalition of 8 national organizations concerned with emergency medical services for children. These organizations have appointed pediatric emergency medicine and prehospital education experts to form the National PEPP Steering Committee. The organizations with official representatives include the American College of Emergency Physicians, Emergency Nurses Association, International Association of Fire Chiefs, International Association of Fire Fighters, National Association of Emergency Medical Services Educators, National Association of State Emergency Medical Services Directors, and National Association of Emergency Medical Services Physicians.

"PEPP is one of the most exciting developments that has come out of the national emergency medical services for children (EMSC) movement in the last ten years. It will be the first prehospital pediatrics course developed through a national consensus process, involving experts who have actually spent much of their careers on the streets in EMS," offered Ronald Dieckmann, MD, FAAP, clinical professor of pediatrics and medicine at University of Calif, San Francisco and chair of the AAP's PEPP Steering Committee. "The course has many interesting features to make it especially learner-friendly, and will be on the cutting edge of clinical practice in pediatric emergency medicine."

Children represent a unique subset of EMS patients. They have special needs and problems that are distinct from adult and geriatric patients. The PEPP program will address all of those special needs. The PEPP course content addresses the pediatric objectives as identified in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) National Standard Curricula.

Available in March of 2000, the first "Train the Trainer" PEPP course will be offered in Baltimore, Maryland, in conjunction with the Emergency Medical Services for Children Second National Congress of Childhood Emergencies on March 25-26, 2000. Another 7 additional cities across the country will be selected to take part in this national rollout of the program.

"I can think of nothing more important than working with the American Academy of Pediatrics on a program to help save the lives of children," said Clayton Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Jones and Bartlett Publishers. "This partnership further solidifies Jones and Bartlett's position as one of the leading publishers in the emergency care field."

The PEPP course is a fully integrated training program consisting of a text, instructor's CD-ROM tool kit, instructor's manual, slide set, video, and course completion cards. The manual includes 13 scenario based chapters addressing a broad range of topics specifically geared toward EMTs and Paramedics. There are also 25 specific procedures included that outline management strategies and point out the important differences to be aware of when dealing with pediatric patients. The course will be highly interactive with hands-on skill stations, small group scenarios, and case-based lectures.

Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc., headquartered in Sudbury, Massachusetts is the ninth largest academic publisher in the United States, publishing text, professional, and reference books, and a variety of multimedia products. Through their partnerships with the National Safety Council, the American Heart Association, and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, and now the AAP, Jones and Bartlett has become the recognized leader in the emergency care field. In addition to emergency care, J&B publishes titles in the fields of nursing and medicine, health and physical education, emergency care and EMS, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and computer science.

The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 55,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatrics surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.

J & B Contact: Kimberly Brophy 800/832-0034, ext. 8219

AAP Contact: Gina Steiner 847/981-7872

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