Regional Events: Trauma Service Area E
Winter 2022 Pediatric Surge
Situation Summary
- Hospitals nationwide are reporting a widespread, sustained surge of pediatric patients. Primarily respiratory (RSV and influenza) and is impacting all pediatric age groups.
- Pediatric hospitals are operating at or near capacity.
- Non-Pediatric hospitals are experiencing increased difficulty in transferring pediatric patients to pediatric hospitals. The result is that non-pediatric hospitals are having to hold pediatric patients in their ED for long stretches. Non-pediatric hospitals are having to transfer patients to pediatric hospitals outside of the region (and often state), while Cook Children’s and Children’s Health are receiving transfer requests from outside of the region and state.
- At this time, there are no state or federal funds available for Pediatric Surge response activities.
EMResource Pediatric Beds Query
- To help hospitals direct pediatric transfer requests, hospitals in Texas are being asked to update the following data fields in EMResource every four hours:
- Available Staffed Pediatric Beds
- Available Staffed PICU Beds
- Available Staffed NICU Beds
- To view statewide pediatric bed availability, log-in to EMResource and select the “Statewide Pediatric Beds” view.
- Hospitals only need to report these data elements every four hours if they receive interfacility transfers for Pediatric, PICU, or NICU patients. If your hospital does not receive interfacility transfers of those patient types, you do not need to report those data fields every 4 hours.
- This is a request; it is not a mandatory reporting requirement.
Pediatric Resource Library
To help aid adult hospitals in the care of pediatric patients that they have to hold in their EDs, NCTTRAC is providing access to the following Pediatric Resource Libraries (click on the link to be taken to the resource library):
- NCTTRAC Regional Pediatric Resource Library
- The Pediatric Resource Library is located towards the bottom of the page.
- This resource library contains resources shared by clinical leadership out of Cook Children’s Medical Center, Children’s Health Dallas and Plano, and Medical City Dallas – Children’s.
- ASPR TRACIE Pediatric Surge Resource Library
- This resource library was built by the federal ASPR and is available to all hospitals across the nation.
HCC-E Pediatric Surge Regional Coordination Calls
NCTTRAC held 2 Pediatric Surge Regional Coordination Calls. The relevant materials can be found below.
ABOUT
The NCTTRAC Emergency Medical Coordination Center (EMCC) supports regional Healthcare Coalition Partners with coordination and implementation of TSA-E’s plans and solutions for regional disaster preparedness and response. Specific EMCC functions include: Activations & Coordination Center Operations, Communications (routine and emergent), Corrective Action Planning, Crisis Applications Administration, Emergency Medical Task Force 2, EOP Implementation, Surveys & Data Analysis and Training & Exercise.
Users must login in order to view plans or documents.
Crisis Applications
A regional crisis application capability enables interaction between Healthcare Coalition members, jurisdictional emergency management officials, public health, and the state. The development of robust crisis applications enhances regional communication, centralized data collection, emergency status tools, and notification capability.
Radio Communications
The NCTTRAC EMCC provides support for all communications functions within the healthcare coalition in TSA-E. The EMCC conducts monthly communications drills, provides hardware and software support, and promotes the implementation of appropriate system maintenance and upgrades for communication tools across the region.
