• Shailesh Khetarpal, Jaron Smith, Brian Weiss, Bikash Bhattarai, and Madhumita Sinha.
• From the Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Arizona Children's Center, Maricopa Integrated Health Systems.
• Pediatr Emerg Care. 2021 Aug 1; 37 (8): e474e478e474-e478.

ObjectivesPediatric cervical spine injuries are rare but potentially life threatening. Although published guidelines for assessment of such injuries exist, there is less uniformity in its implementation in out-of-hospital settings. Our purpose was to assess the knowledge and practice patterns for pediatric cervical spine immobilization among prehospital emergency medical services (EMS) providers in Arizona.MethodsA cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted (October-December 2018), using an electronic mailing list of certified EMS providers (ground and air) in Arizona. A 20-question structured web-based survey was developed and deployed.ResultsOne hundred eight EMS stations were contacted with the survey. Sixty-eight providers responded; majority were emergency medical paramedics (73.1%). Most of the stations surveyed did not have a pediatric trauma center (66.2%). When treating children younger than 3 years, half of the respondents stated they did not know of a specific cervical spine clearance criterion; 59.3% felt that cervical spine immobilization was required "sometimes," and 40.0% were unaware of the state's EMS pediatric cervical spine clearance algorithm; 93.9% of EMS providers felt that an age-based algorithm for cervical spine clearance in children would be useful.ConclusionsIn this statewide survey involving prehospital EMS providers, we found that pediatric cervical spine clearance and immobilization practices, even within a specific geographic location, remain inconsistent.Copyright © 2020 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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